[PEN-L:579] Re: copyrights.

[Bill Rosenberg <w.rosenberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What strikes me as wrong with all intellectual property under
capitalism is that its predominate effect is to confer monopoly
rights to capital. Because that limits the use of these ideas, or use
of tools to create ideas, it is not at all clear that the net effect
of copyright (for instance) is to encourage creativity in society.

Pharmaceuticals and software are just two examples where those rights
are often as a result of very little innovation by the company.
PEN-Lers have documented how little innovation (other than marketing
ability) there is in Microsoft's products for example.

So how about
- limiting full intellectual property rights to people ("natural
persons" rather than "legal persons" in legal terms)
- limiting IP rights to companies severely - e.g. a fixed percentage
of wholesale price with no right to limit sales; for only (say)
five years
- (a favourite of mine) allowing software copyright to apply only to
the latest version of software; earlier versions become freeware that
may not be charged for by anyone.

By the way - there was an organisation in Sydney or Melbourne a few
years ago called the "Software Liberation Front". Not sure what they
did, but a catchy name.

My personal opinions only!

Cheers

Bill

Bill Rosenberg, w.rosenberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx