Re: [Patents] Voice of patenting business

[jm@jmason.org (Justin Mason)]

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


Christian Beauprez writes:
> Dear Justin,
> 
> Thanks very much for your interest in this point. In regards to getting it
> published I have been in touch with some internet news websites- have not
> heared back yet, - but if there is someone you know could help this along it
> would be great. I think that many are very careful when it comes to this
> because it is legal. In terms of law I have never seen such clear laws in
> regards to protection of computer programs "as literary works" and the
> obligations that this entails, it is hardly a grey area.
> 
> Jonas has given out the links to the sources on this issue. You can find in
> the footnotes of my speech links to all the relevant treaties.

Is the text of the speech online (in english ;)?

> So far while the FFII have been quick to pick up on what I consider to be a
> fundamental point, many others don't seem to realise how important this
> obligation is. A lot of the IP lawyers I speak to seem a little cool on this
> theory (I wonder why?)
> 
> I think that in term of the IT community many people have historically
> considered Treaties such as WIPO and TRIPS in a way that is pro-patent,
> mainly because of selective quotation (and the fact that these organisations
> are thought to be pro-corporation), therefore people don't realise that they
> are actually extremely clear and they agree with us on this issue .

Yes, this is a very big deal -- "see, even WIPO and TRIPS agrees with us!"
;)   As you say, until this point, most people had heard/noticed only the
pro-patent parts.

> If you can raise awareness of it, please feel free to quote and link to your
> heart's content.

I'd be happy to ;)  But first I think a short-and-reasonably-simple
1-issue webpage would be the best approach.

Currently, there is no single, relatively short, essay that clearly
describes the issue, as far as I know.   IMO, the best way to publicise a
key point like this is to write up a short essay, and put it on a web site
as a page to itself.

For example, consider Paul Graham's "A Plan For Spam" essay --
http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html -- this pretty much kicked off the
whole concept of Bayesian spam filtering in the open source world. It was
widely spread, because it could be referenced very easily in a single URL
(and wasn't too jargon-filled).

A short essay, which can be summarised into a single sentence or 2, is the
key element to getting a story onto Slashdot's front page or out among the
bloggers.

I'd suggest that's the way to start it...

- --j.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Exmh CVS

iD8DBQFAiFE2QTcbUG5Y7woRAvU0AJ9mVn3OWgFFTFg3NgqPlFMVhUfoSgCfa3DA
FmreSE6aJMhNsD3sjHEyVeE=
=ieNF
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----