Re: [DMCA_Discuss] Re: [Patents] IT World Feature: Patently ridic ulous: What's Europe to do?

[Philippe Coulonges <cphil@cphil.net>]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Le Mardi 20 Août 2002 10:15, Volkan Yüksel (ARGE-VESTMAN) a écrit :

> I have been in IP business in about a year and I would like to share with
> you what I figured out so far.

After reading what comes next, I'll give you some advises you will not follow.

1 - Read what Pilch Says. I learn about sotfware since more than 20 years, 
read his posts since 2-3 years and still learn from what he says. I'm more 
technical, he is more juridical.

2 - Try to think by yourself. No offense here. You certainly had good 
teachers 
who taught you some splendid theories. They were right and these theories 
works, given you're put in the right conditions. These conditions were in the 
premisces of your courses, which you passed as evidences. THEY ARE NOT 
EVIDENCES, they are premisces which must always be examined and re-examined.

3 - Please write down a clear definition of IP. There's a twist here as I 
certainly could not give you that definition. Many people have many 
definitions, so after having clarified yours, you will have to confront it 
with others people definitions and then enter the game.

4 - Read a lot about patents, historically, and try to figure out why, in 
what 
context they were adopted. How they can be benefical to society, when they 
are or not. What about SWPATs. In your mail, I read some confused thoughts. 
It's comprehensible as there are not many issues as tricky as this one. On 
this ML, we are not talking about "new technologies like DVD", for which 
comprehension and mastering of physical phenomena are keys to patenting, but 
on the more controversed issue of logical encoding, on drawing the line 
between idea and realisation, between mathematical, thoughts and invention. 
We don't oppose "patenting as such", only to "software as such". And even 
that is not consensus here (thanks to Greg mainly).

5 - Try to think of invention not as "company work", but as "human work", and 
then figure out what happens to an idea rich individual in a world with or 
without SWPATs. The patent system was made to help inventors. Is it still 
true ? Who makes the money ? Do you know the name of the guy who invented DVD 
? I know Vincent Cerf. I know Richard Stallmann. I know Linus Torvalds. They 
are copyright owners. Do you know Windows developpers ? Do you know who 
invented the URL from which British Telecom tries to get a worldwide tax ?

CU
CPHIL

- -- 
Quand on doit diriger des enfants ou des hommes,
il faut de temps en temps commettre
une belle injustice, bien nette, bien criante :
c'est ça qui leur en impose le plus!
                -- Marcel Pagnol.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQE9YsUQYJwqltj/jHgRAma8AJ0ZaXTlXkbxAzR349KVoqCTBWnSBQCgr0gD
Axl8wCuwXNeVKApqx3V/bx4=
=cvjM
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----