Gilad Ben-Yossef <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > The idea that ideas can be somehow owned is downright stupid,
Hmm... I wonder who came up with that idea, and who currently owns it. I suspect the list of people and organizations and probably even countries who became rich thanks to this idea is really long... ;-) > Genetics, Mathematics, Computers, Algorythms are all made up from > ideas of other people who gave them to the world. I am afraid this discussion, as many predecessors, mixes several different things. Originally, one could not patent an idea, a mathematical formula, or an algorithm. Only implementations were patentable, but then an implementation should be "substantially" different in order not to be covered by a patent. Nowadays, it seems that everything, from business plans to laws of nature, can be patented, and in ridiculously broad forms. Examples abound. Not only do I keep the recipe for my famous apple pie secret, I also forbid anyone else to bake anything containing any fruit in any form. Quite ridiculous, I agree. The really problematic aspect though is copyright. The problem with software, music CDs, etc, is that it is so easy to produce a fully functional copy of a product. Imagine telling a friend that you need a new car, and getting a reply like, "I just got a brand new Lexus, the latest model. Let me go down to the garage and copy it for you - it'll take 10 minutes". You cannot do it to a car, but you can do it to a suite of office applications on a CD. Toyota and Microsoft are in very different positions in this respect. Now, trying to stop potential competitors from developing an office application suite is similar to forbidding any cars but black Lizzies. However, no one is allowed to _copy_ a Lexus. Now, everybody has to agree on what is an "idea", and what is an "implementation". A motorized vehicle is - nowadays - a generic idea. So is a conveyor belt. Look and feel doesn't count, either: no one can patent orange cars. Suspension was used in horse-driven carriages long before patents were invented, but I would not be surprised if particular modern types of suspension were patented. Does anyone hold patents on tiptronics and multitronics transmissions? Those are likely still specific implemetations. And a final note about copying. What would happen if the current ideas by RIAA and friends were applied to Xerox 50 years ago? Certainly Xerox equipment can be used to violate copyrights... ;-) -- Oleg Goldshmidt | [EMAIL PROTECTED] "IBM is a pretty big company." [W. Gates] ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
