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How IP Law Helps FOSS Communities

Posted by samzenpus on from the strange-bedfellows dept.

dp619 writes "Fighting against software patents (New Zealand has banned them) tends to blind FOSS communities to aspects of IP law that actually serve them well. While certainly not perfect, patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret law each has something to offer FOSS communities. Penn State law professor Clark Asay wrote a guest post for the Outercurve Foundation briefly describing some of the ways in IP law can help open source developers."

2 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Ain't that a surprise.. not.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A man from foundation, which has affiliation with Microsoft, telling devs how FOSS can benefit from IP law. I see these words more like "come to the dark side, play our game...". How about abandoning stuff like software patents and we all benefit?

  2. Dubious advantages by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Imagine a mugger who claimed that he's a good mugger because he left you with enough money to catch the bus home. Should you be thankful that he didn't shoot you and that "all" you lost was a few hundred dollars, your credit card, and last year's iPhone?

    What the blog claims as the advantages of IP laws, such as DMCA's safe harbor and the limts on copyright and patents, are problems that wouldn't exist if the laws didn't exist in the first place (if the mugger didn't mug you, you wouldn't feel the need to be thankful that he spared your life).