Re: [Patents] If Haydn had patented the symphony

[iriXx <iriXx@iriXx.org>]

i remember your mentioning something like this in your talk at Cambridge 
last year - if Beethoven had patented the trill....

being a classical composer by training, this would have been a nightmare 
for me!
everything a composer (or any other artist) creates is derivative of 
past works - there is no way to avoid this.
those who have tried have ended up writing music which sounds like bread 
made with no ingredients (thin air).

even worse: what if someone patented the alphabet.

communication between anyone would be rendered gibberish if we had to 
invent our own prior art every time we wanted to write!

great example.

m~

Richard Stallman wrote:
> Here is an idea: write the claims for a patent on "sonata form", which
> was the usual structure of the first movement of a symphony, with the
> music to be played through a MIDI synthesizer by a computer.
>
> My idea is that you can find a way to do this that would make it a
> legitimate patent under the proposed EU directive.  (Of course, it
> would be invalid due to prior art, but that's a different issue.)
>
> Then instead of "What if Haydn could have patented the symphony",
> we will be able to say, "With this directive, Haydn could have
> patented the symphony."

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