FTC and JD Holding Hearings on IP

hondo77 writes "The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department are holding hearings on intellectual property laws over the next few weeks (the first one was Feb 6). They're looking at the balance between IP rights and the free market."

Comments

My voice

[SilentChris]

"from the get-your-voice-in-there dept."

Sure. I'm all for IP. I think being able to own ideas is a *good* thing. I think that people against it are primarily doing so because they themselves don't know how to make money. I think the capitalist society we live in today (along with IP) led to the technological growth that allows me to post my voice on this board, this very second. I think most "free" people on Slashdot are quacks, because if it really came down to it, they couldn't use their free software argument for everything else they purchase... and sell... in life. Thus, they are hypocrits.

I doubt this is what the editor had in mind when he put up the dept. heading, but hey.

We arent democracy

[HanzoSan]

And you are talking about capitalism.

First we are a republic.
Second we are capitalist, absolute capitalist in fact. So capitalist that we hurt ourselves to make money, kill each other to make money, and kill innovation for a profit (microsoft for example)

If there was any doubt about this...

[ackthpt]

I'll tell you what the FTC is talking about: How can we get the corporations more money so they
can keep backing our policical campaigns?

If there was any doubt about this, it should have been firmly removed when House Speaker, Dennis Hastert came out against campaign finance reform, because it would cost the GOP seats and possibly the house.

Well, dang, maybe we should make George King and Dennis and Trent dukes, that should allay their fears. What gets me, and probably more than a few others is that the corruption has become necessary because it's more about winning than doing the right thing. As each party ups the ante, the other sees and raises, until the public gets hurt enough to slap them back into place, but professional weasels always give themselves a way out and look for it.