On Mon, 19 Aug 2002, Norbert Bollow wrote:
> Mike Nolan <nolan@celery.tssi.com> wrote:
>> OMIGOD, you still believe in the copyright law? :-)
> Well, IANAL, and from my layperson's perspective it looks like a
> total mess, but I think it's part of the realities of the
> environment in which I'm conducting business.
>
> Also, copyright law is what gives the copyleft of the GNU GPL
> its teeth, and that's a very good application of copyright law
> IMO.
I've been very close to post a comment on copyright and
"intellectual property" a couple of times recently, but decided it
would be off-topic here. But since several others are posting
about copyright now, so be it.
I can go along with the idea of a limited copyright -- as outlined
and delineated for example by Thomas Babington Macaulay in his
speech in the House of Commons on the 5th of february 1841 --
which is still one of the best introductions to the considerations
and principles of copyright. That speech is available here:
http://yarchive.net/macaulay/copyright.html .
Copyright laws may need amendments in a digital world, but if so,
amendments in the opposite direction of "intellectual property".
The recent virulent spread of the harmful and self-contradictory
phrase "intellectual property" should be rejected out of hand.
Copyright is not property. Not only is copyright and copyright
law substantially different from property and laws about property
in several ways. Also, copyright is a type of restrictions or
limitations on property (by limiting what a rightful owner may do
with her/his rightfully obtained copy of a work). Copyright is an
artificial monopoly created and maintained by the state. There
are some good reasons to defend such a monopoly in a limited way
and for a limited time (cf. Macaulay). But we should not be
confused about what copyright is, in particular we should not
confuse it with property. Also, copyright may not be the only way
to solve or deal with the thorny problem of intellectual creations
and how to acknowledge and reward their creators.
As for "intellectual property", this deceptive phrase is a
destroyer of common or public knowledge, as it is being used both
to steal and fence in all kinds of knowledge and works in the
public domain, as well as to undermine and erase the individual's
property rights to her/his rightfully obtained copies of works.
"Intellectual property" is not only theft, it is grand larceny.
A couple of links elaborating on the above points:
(These articles span the political spectrum from the anarchist
left to the libertarian right)
Markus Krummenacker: Are "Intellectual Property Rights" Justified?
<http://www.n-a-n-o.com/ipr/extro2/extro2mk.html>
Brian Martin: Against intellectual property
<http://danny.oz.au/free-software/advocacy/against_IP.html>
Julio H. Cole: Patents and Copyrights: Do the Benefits Exceed the
Costs?
<http://www.economia.ufm.edu.gt/Catedraticos/jhcole/Cole%20_MPS_.pdf>
John Perry Barlow: The Economy of Ideas - A framework for
rethinking patents and copyrights in the Digital Age
<http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.03/economy.ideas.html>
Ilana Mercer: How Things Would Work in a Copyright Free Universe
<http://www.ilanamercer.com/Copyfree.htm>
Wendy McElroy: Intellectual Property: Copyright and Patent in
Liberty
<http://www.zetetics.com/mac/libdebates/ch6intpr.html>
N. Stephan Kinsella: Against Intellectual Property:
<http://www.mises.org/journals/scholar/kinsella6%2EPDF>
N. Stephan Kinsella: Do patents and copyrights undermine private
property?
<http://www.insightmag.com/archive/200105229.shtml>
Jeremy Sapienza: The Fraud of 'Intellectual Property'
<http://www.lewrockwell.com/sapienza/sapienza36.html>
Jesse Walker: Copy Catfight - how intellectual property laws stifle
popular culture
<http://www.reason.com/0003/fe.jw.copy.html>
Richard M. Stallman: Copyright and Globalization in the Age of
Computer Networks
<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/copyright-and-globalization.html>
Richard M. Stallman: The Right to Read
<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html>
Richard M. Stallman: Reevaluating Copyright: The Public Must Prevail
<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/reevaluating-copyright.html>
Roderick T. Long: The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual
Property Rights
<http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ad862de5fda.htm>
Siva Vaidhyanathan: Copyright as cudgel. Chronicle of Higher
Education, 48(47), pp. B7-B9. August 2, 2002.
<http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i47/47b00701.htm>
Copyrights and Copywrongs
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814788068/>
John Gilmore: What's Wrong With Copy Protection?
<http://www.spectacle.org/0501/gilmore.html>
Statement of the Internet Society on Digital Rights
Management
http://www.isoc.org/isoc/media/releases/020815pr.shtml
Marc Rotenberg (Salon magazine): Internet liberation theology
http://dir.salon.com/tech/review/2001/11/07/lessig/index.html
Creative Commons:
http://www.creativecommons.org/
http://dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Intellectual_Property/
Thomas Gramstad
thomas@ifi.uio.no
References:
|
|
