I've always said that the best way to make money from IP is to give it away. Either (1) give away the razor and charge for the blades, (2) give away the razor and put advertising on the blades, (3) [fill in your suggestion here]. The New York Times just stopped charging for access to privileged parts of their Web site, because they realized they could get more ad views by making access free. IP is not "property" in the tangible sense. And I agree with the other comments here: how can an ISBN be the Coop's "property" in any way? This is the beginning of IP madness.
For years I've had this future scenario where the world is controlled by IP companies; they have their own armies, etc.; if you create something (even a grocery list) you have to register it; one company owns the Bible, another owns all of Shakespeare, another owns the units of measure and the value of Pi, so anytime you quote Scripture or measure something or heat water to make it boil you have to pay a royalty, etc. Is this where it's heading?
The lower-case 'u' came about because in German it's the abbreviation for 'und' - the equivalent of an ampersand. So when you see SuSE you can think S&SE.
Slashdot Mirror
not Tesla - more like Velikovsky.
For years I've had this future scenario where the world is controlled by IP companies; they have their own armies, etc.; if you create something (even a grocery list) you have to register it; one company owns the Bible, another owns all of Shakespeare, another owns the units of measure and the value of Pi, so anytime you quote Scripture or measure something or heat water to make it boil you have to pay a royalty, etc. Is this where it's heading?
The lower-case 'u' came about because in German it's the abbreviation for 'und' - the equivalent of an ampersand. So when you see SuSE you can think S&SE.