Re: [Patents] removal of copyright protection ?

[Gregory Aharonian <srctran@world.std.com>]

>Greg, What legal protection would you suggest for software that is not
>patented, if copyright was removed?  ("none" is not a viable answer!)

Nick,
        Your question has been asked many times here in America, 
usually referred to as the "sui generis" solution - creating some new
sort of IP rights for software.  Unfortunately, all of these proposals
ended up being some sort of hybrid of patent and copyright rights, and
thus not escaping whatever problems are associated with either IP
system.
        Any system is going to have to offer some sort of exclusive
right, some sort of examination, some sort of structured description.
Once you start adding details, you end up with a system that starts
to look like either patent or copyrights (or in the case of the infamous
Manifesto, a system that looks like someone took patents and copyrights,
threw them into a blender, and hit puree).
        I still think the solution is to rely solely on patents, but
patents coming out of a patent system and being of higher quality (and
therefore less of them issuing).  One could then increase the levels
of maintenance fees for the patents (a much easier change for the law),
which would probably end up seeing many frivolous patents being
abandoned much earlier in their patent term.  For example, after then
(whoops) after ten years, the maintenance fee could be increased by
a factor of ten (with the logic being if you haven't profitted from
your patent by then, you never will; and if you are profitting in this
economy, you can afford the higher maintenance fee).  Adjusting 
maintenance fees and easing the opposition process for software patents,
with increased patent examination resources, would solve most of these
excesses of not only software patents, but all patents.
        Why not try thinking about some alternative yourself?  I don't
think one exists, but am always curious to see new proposals.

Greg