Trademarks, copyrights, etc.. all the children of capitalism.
I think copyrights and trademarks should only be subject to America and any free trade countries. Otherwise we are pushing (forcing?) capitalist rules on not necessessarily capitalist countries.
In a global marketplace where capitalism seems to be the general economical protocol, things like two peices of software that have similarities shouldn't be basis for litigation. It's called competition, and without it capitalism would be dead for monopolies are price controlling and inefficient. Just imagine if Ford would have friverously protected his invention (and perhaps even the idea of assembly lines), what would cars be like today? Where have we gone wrong? May be we should rework the copyright system to allow copyrights to companies who put in time and money for R&D and produce something that would otherwise not exist completely (windows in this case would be exempt, but all music and literature would be protected). The copyright laws have been so convoluted lately with BS that it's near time to draw a distinct yet flexable line. Without competition, we have monopolies, and then there is no more innovation because the monopolies are too busy fighting off smaller businesses or chasing down would be innovators (hackers). Without innovation we have nothing.
uhhhh... We The People... as in We The People of the United States... as in the US Constitution...
I realize you're not American so I'm not gonna call you stupid or anything.. =D
First of all, anyone who is a bootlegging fan knows that people who sell bootlegs are evil. With that said here are what I think are the fundamental difference between the two... When you get your hands on a bootleg, generally you would have had to trade to get it (or buy it if you suck like that) and most people wouldn't go to the trouble if they weren't big fans. Heck there are a lot of artists who don't mind if you record their show, you just have to get permission (the hard part). Now, bootlegs are recorded at concerts and the artist has already made all the revenue they're going to get out of doing that concert, so if someone bootlegs that concert the band isn't loosing any money. For those people who just couldn't make it to the concert, bootlegs are wonderful (I missed the community service tour but got the bootlegs). In the case of Napster, however, the possibility exists that you could have tons of music that you don't or didn't previously own therefore creating a loss FOR THE RECORD LABELS, artists don't generally lose out on lost sales unless theyre collecting royalties. Remember, the people bootlegging usually have good intentions, it's who's hands it falls in and the dick who tries to sell them. Sometimes there's nothing more you can do than to buy one every now and then, one you have to have but couldn't obtain... you happen to find one on eBay, what are you going to do? These people can't be guilty of anything, all they want is some music, they're not cutting into anyones pocketbooks, is it really all that big of a deal?
The RIAA is scaring and threatening the one hand that feeds it, pretty soon consumers and artists are going to get fed up and find a way to bypass record labes in the music production process altogether (some already have) they better watch themselves.
Sorry guys I couldn't help myself, plus I'm at work and bored.... This imbalance is most evident from the very first encounter between the noble-minded Prof. Xavier and the allegedly evil Magento. \---- Magento... must be Magnetos color co-ordinated gay brother following in his footsteps
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Trademarks, copyrights, etc.. all the children of capitalism. I think copyrights and trademarks should only be subject to America and any free trade countries. Otherwise we are pushing (forcing?) capitalist rules on not necessessarily capitalist countries. In a global marketplace where capitalism seems to be the general economical protocol, things like two peices of software that have similarities shouldn't be basis for litigation. It's called competition, and without it capitalism would be dead for monopolies are price controlling and inefficient. Just imagine if Ford would have friverously protected his invention (and perhaps even the idea of assembly lines), what would cars be like today? Where have we gone wrong? May be we should rework the copyright system to allow copyrights to companies who put in time and money for R&D and produce something that would otherwise not exist completely (windows in this case would be exempt, but all music and literature would be protected). The copyright laws have been so convoluted lately with BS that it's near time to draw a distinct yet flexable line. Without competition, we have monopolies, and then there is no more innovation because the monopolies are too busy fighting off smaller businesses or chasing down would be innovators (hackers). Without innovation we have nothing.
uhhhh... We The People... as in We The People of the United States... as in the US Constitution... I realize you're not American so I'm not gonna call you stupid or anything.. =D
First of all, anyone who is a bootlegging fan knows that people who sell bootlegs are evil. With that said here are what I think are the fundamental difference between the two... When you get your hands on a bootleg, generally you would have had to trade to get it (or buy it if you suck like that) and most people wouldn't go to the trouble if they weren't big fans. Heck there are a lot of artists who don't mind if you record their show, you just have to get permission (the hard part). Now, bootlegs are recorded at concerts and the artist has already made all the revenue they're going to get out of doing that concert, so if someone bootlegs that concert the band isn't loosing any money. For those people who just couldn't make it to the concert, bootlegs are wonderful (I missed the community service tour but got the bootlegs). In the case of Napster, however, the possibility exists that you could have tons of music that you don't or didn't previously own therefore creating a loss FOR THE RECORD LABELS, artists don't generally lose out on lost sales unless theyre collecting royalties. Remember, the people bootlegging usually have good intentions, it's who's hands it falls in and the dick who tries to sell them. Sometimes there's nothing more you can do than to buy one every now and then, one you have to have but couldn't obtain... you happen to find one on eBay, what are you going to do? These people can't be guilty of anything, all they want is some music, they're not cutting into anyones pocketbooks, is it really all that big of a deal? The RIAA is scaring and threatening the one hand that feeds it, pretty soon consumers and artists are going to get fed up and find a way to bypass record labes in the music production process altogether (some already have) they better watch themselves.
Sorry guys I couldn't help myself, plus I'm at work and bored.... This imbalance is most evident from the very first encounter between the noble-minded Prof. Xavier and the allegedly evil Magento. \---- Magento... must be Magnetos color co-ordinated gay brother following in his footsteps