Deconstructing Stupidity - Why is IP Policy Bad?

An anonymous reader writes "There is a good attempt on the Financial Times site by James Boyle to explain why intellectual property policy making is so bad. From the article: 'These are the ground rules of the information society. Mistakes hurt us.... Why are we making them? To some the answer is obvious: corporate capture of the decision making process. This is a nicely cynical conclusion. But wait. There are economic interests on both sides. The film and music industries are tiny compared to the consumer electronics industry.'"

choice quote:

[ShaniaTwain]

We extend protection retrospectively to dead authors, perhaps in the hope they will write from their tombs.

perhaps they arent writing because they don't have enough economic insentive on account of those filthy pirates? did you ever think of that you insensitive clod?

I've heard of ghost writers, but what about zombie writers?

... but it's good !!!

[dago]

Aaaaah, _this_ IP policy, not the other one related to QoS ... ok,ok.

Re:Emergence.... and demergence

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, it reminds me a quote from Terry Pratchet:

The IQ of a crowd equals the IQ of the most stupid individual from that crowd divided by the number of people in the crowd.

Re:Emergence.... and demergence

[Sloppy]

Hmm.. the theory of demergent phenomena might be useful to researchers who quest for Artificial Stupidity.

Re:What about the GPL

[ShieldW0lf]

The GPL needs to exist because of IP.

Otherwise people would wonder what the hell kind of vehicle class a BSD license allows you to drive.

Re:choice quote:

[sTalking_Goat]

I've heard of ghost writers, but what about zombie writers

You've never heard of the great zombie writer John Doe? His fifth novel "Brains, sweet Brains" is a classic, a social commentary of the plight of the zombie in pre-Rodriguez America. He who walks in this world but belongs neither is this or the next.
I love that opening line: "Ugggghhhhh,want braiiinssss...."

Truly a masterful telling of the walking dead experience...

Re:Patent Credited To.. [Insert Co. Here]

[mcwop]

So, am I supposed to feel bad for Mullis, who was paid $300 million?

Re:Money

[flyingsquid]

That's the way patent laywers think these days, they try to patent the whole world. I think its a flaw of the system, becuase these broad ones get passed with way too much. More than they deserve.

Actually, I did patent the entire world. Read US Patent Number 5,764,932: "Method for an inhabited world".

ABSTRACT

A method and system for an inhabited world. The "world" consists of a large (~12000km diameter) spheroid of rock. The method for production involves accretion from many small planetesimals. The inhabited world has a molten interior, or core, and a hardened exterior, or crust. Approximately 75% of the crust is covered by highly saline water. A gaseous layer composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, .9% argon and various trace gases is present. Bacteria, plants and animals inhabit the upper layers. The system for producing these organisms involves adding large amounts of organic compounds to water and allowing them to undergo evolution via "Natural Selection"(patent pending) for 4 billion years.

...naturally, I'm going to be expecting royalty checks from every individual who makes use of my novel "world" concept. If you don't like that, just go live in an orbital colony or a Dyson sphere. Plus, I'm going to sue this "God" character for patent infringment- I really have no choice but to defend my intellectual property. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go patent the neutron.

Re:why doesnt the electronics industry stand up?

[ifwm]

"We stamp things out. This is the nature of America as far back as the Puritans. We do not encourage. We do not foster. If something new springs up in America, it's because we didn't see it coming fast enough to ban it"

You mean like the US itself? Because, you know, it sprang up. I don't recall us trying to stamp it out.

Then of coures there's women's suffrage, income tax, Social Security, and countless other examples of things that "sprang up" yet seem to have avoided being "stamped out"

I doubt we missed seeing any of these things coming.

Re:Emergence.... and demergence

[ifwm]

I had no idea there was a shortage of Natural Stupidity. We must begin conservation efforts immediately.

No more soviet russia, overlord, or virii references in any of your posts please.

Are you doing your part?

Re:Money

[calyxa]

nice try, but patent number 5,764,932 is "Method and apparatus for implementing a dual processing protocol between processors" filed Dec 23 1996 and assigned to Intel.