I think you're all probably missing the point. I'm sure that Apple (computers) hires some pretty good legal talent. Furthermore, I would imagine that said talent would not overlook the blatent violation of the contract they signed with Apple (records... nevermind that I agree this is pretty clearly a trademark issue as well). My bet is that Apple ran the numbers and concluded that they could recoup legal fees and settlement costs in the business of selling iTMS tracks, and iPods. They probably even figured that it would be cheaper to get sued and settle than to negotiate getting out of their prior agreement. My prediction... Watch for a fast settlement.
Re:One thing I've NEVER seen here....
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Fair IP Laws?
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You're either arguing that all patents are always bad which is off-topic for this thread and generally unsupported if you agree that free-market economies are good. Or, hypothetically, because fire has been so beneficial to humanity it shouldn't have been protected by a patent. This reasoning is flawed for three reasons. First it requires the hind-sight of time (we know now all of the uses of fire) something that the original grantor coudn't have known. Second, you assume that all patent holders are malevolent and all patent-users are unwilling to pay license fees. Neither of those is categorically true. It's certainly the case that there are reasonable patent licenses and patents have been licensed. Last, this way of considering patent validity would've precluded from patentability things like the light-bulb, penicillin, insulin pumps, the mouse, and many other inventions that are exceptionally useful to humanity and have served as the foundation of knowledge for other innovations.
Can we really discard technology and other violent influences completely?
There was an interesting "Law & Order" (NBC) a few weeks ago where the District Attourney in the show took this nazi propagandist to court on 2nd degree murder charges for inciting adolescent boys to murder. The argument was that he filled the heads of these boys (that had commited the murder) with hatred and thoughts of murder when the boys were already unstable and likely to commit crime already. He pushed them over the edge it was argued.
Clearly this is a contrived "made for TV" TM example however the underlying point is still valid I think. The kids that commited this crime were clearly unstable, and I don't think we can say that violent movies like "Natural Born Killers" or video games, or you choose your own technological/media demon had NO influence on these kids. Perhaps this exposure tipped them over the edge.
If someone is convinced that killing 25 people is a good idea, your first response to them should probably NOT be "well... killing isn't a big deal" This is to some extent what I think the images from popular culture tell us.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy games like Doom and I thought "Natural Born Killers" while repugnant and disturbing was a VERY WELL DONE movie. However, I don't think we can understate the POTENTIAL effect on our kids. Obviously we can't tell but maybe if these kids had spent a little less time indulging their violent "tooth", Littleton CO would still be a little place in CO that nobody has heard of.
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I think you're all probably missing the point. I'm sure that Apple (computers) hires some pretty good legal talent. Furthermore, I would imagine that said talent would not overlook the blatent violation of the contract they signed with Apple (records... nevermind that I agree this is pretty clearly a trademark issue as well). My bet is that Apple ran the numbers and concluded that they could recoup legal fees and settlement costs in the business of selling iTMS tracks, and iPods. They probably even figured that it would be cheaper to get sued and settle than to negotiate getting out of their prior agreement. My prediction... Watch for a fast settlement.
You can get it for $90.97 at Amazon
You're either arguing that all patents are always bad which is off-topic for this thread and generally unsupported if you agree that free-market economies are good. Or, hypothetically, because fire has been so beneficial to humanity it shouldn't have been protected by a patent. This reasoning is flawed for three reasons. First it requires the hind-sight of time (we know now all of the uses of fire) something that the original grantor coudn't have known. Second, you assume that all patent holders are malevolent and all patent-users are unwilling to pay license fees. Neither of those is categorically true. It's certainly the case that there are reasonable patent licenses and patents have been licensed. Last, this way of considering patent validity would've precluded from patentability things like the light-bulb, penicillin, insulin pumps, the mouse, and many other inventions that are exceptionally useful to humanity and have served as the foundation of knowledge for other innovations.
There was an interesting "Law & Order" (NBC) a few weeks ago where the District Attourney in the show took this nazi propagandist to court on 2nd degree murder charges for inciting adolescent boys to murder. The argument was that he filled the heads of these boys (that had commited the murder) with hatred and thoughts of murder when the boys were already unstable and likely to commit crime already. He pushed them over the edge it was argued.
Clearly this is a contrived "made for TV" TM example however the underlying point is still valid I think. The kids that commited this crime were clearly unstable, and I don't think we can say that violent movies like "Natural Born Killers" or video games, or you choose your own technological/media demon had NO influence on these kids. Perhaps this exposure tipped them over the edge.
If someone is convinced that killing 25 people is a good idea, your first response to them should probably NOT be "well... killing isn't a big deal" This is to some extent what I think the images from popular culture tell us.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy games like Doom and I thought "Natural Born Killers" while repugnant and disturbing was a VERY WELL DONE movie. However, I don't think we can understate the POTENTIAL effect on our kids. Obviously we can't tell but maybe if these kids had spent a little less time indulging their violent "tooth", Littleton CO would still be a little place in CO that nobody has heard of.