Legislation works, but because it is slow, the Courts exist to figure out undefined cases. Unfortunately it can be expensive to take a risk by becoming a test case.
I really hate to say this because I am rabidly against copyright enforcement abuses, but it did occur to me that the US's major product of value may be someday, if it is not now, intellectual property. This is especially likely to be true as software and virtual techniques become more proliferated and complex. There's no excuse for legislation such as that being proposed, but I have to think-- it may be in a nation's interest to protect its IP, and it may become more so. It is a dilemma- I want maximum freedom for individuals, but I don't want our gross domestic product to evaporate.
OK, IAAL, and I'll bite. Estoppel of any kind is only good against someone whose actions, silence or representations were specifically to YOU, not others like you. Write a letter to MS and say I bought one copy of Office and I believe I am entitled to use it on my ten machines. No answer? Estoppel by silence. Your neighbor writes the letter and you know of it. No answer. You have no protection though your neighbor may.
For some reason, this reminds me of a great line from one of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas (Gilbert was himself a lawyer): "It is a legal fiction! And a legal fiction is a solemn thing."
Agree wholeheartedly. Our culture has been co-opted by big companies, and it belongs to them more than to us. We ought not tolerate private ownership of our culture.
Take a leaf from the Rule Against Perpetuities (a law limiting the length of time after your death you can control who gets to assume ownership of your property): The duration of a life in being (pick someone young, like your son or grandson) plus twenty-one years.
That's worked for real property conveyance for more than five hundred years.
The same thing can be said of the Harry Potter books that was said of Bram Stoker's Dracula... not terribly well-written, but "succeeding by the sheer force of its narrative power".
Wednesday's committee deliberations centered on finding compromises acceptable to opponents -- namely the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, manufacturers, and large research universities
Am I the only one who thinks how powerful interests have to be consulted (so they can stay powerful) before a bill passes is a pretty F****D-UP kind of democracy? It looks like whether we have communism or capitalism, if either system gets too hoary and entrenched the people get pwned.
The minimum damages the Courts must award for the RIAA's type of copyright infringement claims is contained in the statute, and is $750.00 per song. When cases of this kind have gone to default judgment (Ray, correct me if I'm wrong), judges generally award ONLY the minimum $750.00. This means you can easily trash the RIAA's absurd settlement demands EVEN IF YOU REALLY WERE filesharing by making an offer of judgment of $750.00 per song-- they almost have to let you go for that amount because if they don't they risk paying ALL of your costs and expenses. (You're not the kind of dummy who downloads more than one song at a time, are you?)
Note, in cases in which the suit is simply wrong in alleging you've fileshared, an "offer of judgment" is going to SHIFT THE BURDEN TO THE RIAA to make DAMN sure they haven't been careless in their statement of claim. An offer of judgment is apparently going to be POWERFUL in fighting these b*****ds. And if you're a one-file-at-a-time kind of guy, $750.00 is cheap to buy out of this fscked-up RIAA misery.
Congress should rein in the **AAs, but I doubt they are going to. This is a great evil. Corporate America has co-opted our culture and is fighting hard to keep control in perpetuity.
Re:It's not Microsoft you should be worried about
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Vista is Watching You
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· Score: 1
Wait 'til Bush's Attorney General Gonzalez decides to ask M$ to aid the war on terrorism by monitoring hard drives (as part of the Windows Desktop Search Service, perhaps?) for "suspicious" keywords. Geez, if you're a law-abiding Muslim, that would mean a world of hurt.
And once you're monitoring for some keywords, it really wouldn't mean much to monitor for a few others, would it? Everyone ought to see where this is going.
If a person breathes Nitrous Oxide mixed with air, he generally neither laughs or loses consciousness. A combatant would have to get several unadulterated lungfuls of N20 to pass out, and then would recover within a minute. How useless would this be as a weapon? How stupid can some in the military be? (I suspect the answer to both questions may be the same.)
By the way, in light doses N2O is an analgesic. That's right, help the enemy endure their aches and pains!
Very easy. However, they have said that they won't disclose which patents are being violated because:
1. The Free software community would be able to discredit the patents (e.g. provide evidence of prior art, show the code isn't infringing, etc).
2. The Free software developers would be able to remove the offending code.
Will some lawyer out there who knows more than I do tell me how in the h**l you can win a patent suit against a defendant who has begged to be told what infringes so he can take it out? Where the heck are your damages in such a case?
Why is it possible to lodge a patent claim if a defendant requests identification of the patents for the purpose of doing a workaround? It's like "you're stealing our IP" and the defendant says "tell us what, and we'll stop it", but the plaintiff defeats defendant's attempt to go clean?
"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism. It works the same in any country."
--Hermann Goering, Nuremberg 1946
Slashdot Mirror
I think you mean "D'OH!!"
Legislation works, but because it is slow, the Courts exist to figure out undefined cases. Unfortunately it can be expensive to take a risk by becoming a test case.
Isn't a hacked phone likely to fail updating because what was to have been updated has been hacked or removed?
I really hate to say this because I am rabidly against copyright enforcement abuses, but it did occur to me that the US's major product of value may be someday, if it is not now, intellectual property. This is especially likely to be true as software and virtual techniques become more proliferated and complex. There's no excuse for legislation such as that being proposed, but I have to think-- it may be in a nation's interest to protect its IP, and it may become more so. It is a dilemma- I want maximum freedom for individuals, but I don't want our gross domestic product to evaporate.
For some reason, this reminds me of a great line from one of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas (Gilbert was himself a lawyer): "It is a legal fiction! And a legal fiction is a solemn thing."
Agree wholeheartedly. Our culture has been co-opted by big companies, and it belongs to them more than to us. We ought not tolerate private ownership of our culture.
That's worked for real property conveyance for more than five hundred years.
A loud raspberry for you, sir!
The same thing can be said of the Harry Potter books that was said of Bram Stoker's Dracula... not terribly well-written, but "succeeding by the sheer force of its narrative power".
Come on, as if Rowling cares about money at this point!
The students would have to sue, most likely in Federal Court, to assert their due process rights. None of them will be able to afford this.
Wednesday's committee deliberations centered on finding compromises acceptable to opponents -- namely the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, manufacturers, and large research universities Am I the only one who thinks how powerful interests have to be consulted (so they can stay powerful) before a bill passes is a pretty F****D-UP kind of democracy? It looks like whether we have communism or capitalism, if either system gets too hoary and entrenched the people get pwned.
Gee, I had mod points, and I posted a response instead. Can I really be a /.ter...
Note, in cases in which the suit is simply wrong in alleging you've fileshared, an "offer of judgment" is going to SHIFT THE BURDEN TO THE RIAA to make DAMN sure they haven't been careless in their statement of claim. An offer of judgment is apparently going to be POWERFUL in fighting these b*****ds. And if you're a one-file-at-a-time kind of guy, $750.00 is cheap to buy out of this fscked-up RIAA misery.
Congress should rein in the **AAs, but I doubt they are going to. This is a great evil. Corporate America has co-opted our culture and is fighting hard to keep control in perpetuity.
And once you're monitoring for some keywords, it really wouldn't mean much to monitor for a few others, would it? Everyone ought to see where this is going.
By the way, in light doses N2O is an analgesic. That's right, help the enemy endure their aches and pains!
Geez we are talking bright here.
Well, if they had you do it four times in a row, that would be 1 in 10,000 security, right?
Sigh... never mind. I looked it up. Apparently Mao killed 60 million.
Are you forgetting about Josef Stalin? 25 to 40 million victims?
Will some lawyer out there who knows more than I do tell me how in the h**l you can win a patent suit against a defendant who has begged to be told what infringes so he can take it out? Where the heck are your damages in such a case?
...it's not going to be worth getting.
That's the American way.
Why is it possible to lodge a patent claim if a defendant requests identification of the patents for the purpose of doing a workaround? It's like "you're stealing our IP" and the defendant says "tell us what, and we'll stop it", but the plaintiff defeats defendant's attempt to go clean?
"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism. It works the same in any country." --Hermann Goering, Nuremberg 1946
I'd advise you to give up your addiction to placebos, but I doubt it would make any difference.