Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Why copyright is really-really-really dead

Author:Paul Snively
Posted:7/4/2000; 9:32:19 AM
Topic:Why copyright is really-really-really dead
Msg #:18326 (In response to 18324)
Prev/Next:18325 / 18327

Robert Cassidy: David Boies no less, illustrating that the music industry might lose it's ability to enforce copyright based on their behavior. Interesting stuff. Here's a link to his PDF based brief:

http://dl.napster.com/opposition.pdf

Guy sure knows how to piss in a lot of people's pools...

Wow. I already had the feeling the RIAA were a bunch of sleazeballs, but this really is the icing on the cake. A must-read for anyone concerned about the state of intellectual property law in America.

It's also interesting to note that Thomas Jefferson, founder of and first contributor to the US Patent Office, wrote explicitly against the notion of patenting "ideas," again explicitly because ideas cannot be held in property; if I share an idea with you I do not lose it myself, etc. The whole notion of "intellectual property" flies in the face of (scarcity) economics and American political philosophy.




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