Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

5 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. New Zealand didn't ban software patents... by drussell · · Score: 4, Informative

    They basically just banned adding "on a computer", etc. to a patent automatically becoming a new patentable "invention".

    1. Re:New Zealand didn't ban software patents... by Nuke+Bloodaxe · · Score: 5, Informative

      *sigh* I am in New Zealand, and yes I have read and understood the legislation. For full disclosure I am also an Associate Member of the IITP, one of the groups who pushed hard to get this mess sorted out.

      Most people skip the most important line which reads:

      "A computer program is not a patentable invention." Section 15, part 3A: http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2008/0235/latest/whole.html?search=sw_096be8ed8054d616_computer+program_25_se&p=1#DLM1419225

      Now, is that unclear to anyone?

  2. 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?

  3. Re:Still don't see patents helping by Jaime2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's how all of his points shake out. Every single one boiled down to... "Sure this law nearly turns thinking into crime, but there are some exceptions that you can work in". The FOSS philosophy requires no law to exist. For-profit software couldn't exist without legal protection. I'm not saying for-profit software is bad, but it certainly requires legal protection to sell something that requires almost no physical effort to reproduce.

    The question we can't get any real public dialog on is "How much protection is the right amount to create the world we want to live in?"

  4. 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).