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www/philosophy intellectual-property-twist-your...
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From: |
Yavor Doganov |
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Subject: |
www/philosophy intellectual-property-twist-your... |
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Date: |
Mon, 30 Apr 2007 06:47:52 +0000 |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Yavor Doganov <yavor> 07/04/30 06:47:51
Removed files:
philosophy : intellectual-property-twist-your-ethos.html
Log message:
Identical with no-ip-ethos and not linked from anywhere, so removed.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/intellectual-property-twist-your-ethos.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.2&r2=0
Patches:
Index: intellectual-property-twist-your-ethos.html
===================================================================
RCS file: intellectual-property-twist-your-ethos.html
diff -N intellectual-property-twist-your-ethos.html
--- intellectual-property-twist-your-ethos.html 15 Jun 2006 10:12:04 -0000
1.2
+++ /dev/null 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
@@ -1,215 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
- "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd";>
-<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en">
-
-<head>
-<title>Don't Let 'Intellectual Property' Twist Your Ethos</title>
-<meta http-equiv="content-type" content='text/html; charset=utf-8' />
-<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/gnu.css" />
-<link rev="made" href="mailto:address@hidden"; />
-</head>
-
-<!-- This document is in XML, and xhtml 1.0 -->
-<!-- Please make sure to properly nest your tags -->
-<!-- and ensure that your final document validates -->
-<!-- consistent with W3C xhtml 1.0 and CSS standards -->
-<!-- See validator.w3.org -->
-
-<body>
-
-<h3>Don't Let 'Intellectual Property' Twist Your Ethos</h3>
-
-<p>
-<a href="/graphics/philosophicalgnu.html"><img
src="/graphics/philosophical-gnu-sm.jpg"
- alt=" [image of a Philosophical Gnu] "
- width="160" height="200" /></a>
-</p>
-
-<p>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/";>Richard M. Stallman</a>
-<br />
-June 09, 2006
-</p>
-
-<!--<p><a href="#translations">Translations</a> of this page</p>-->
-
-<p>
-<hr />
-</p>
-
-<p>
- Most free software licenses are based on copyright law, and for good reason:
- Copyright law is much more uniform among countries than contract law, which
- is the other possible choice.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- There's another reason not to use contract law: It would require every
- distributor to get a user's formal assent to the contract before providing a
- copy. To hand someone a CD without getting his signature first would be
- forbidden. What a pain in the neck!
-</p>
-
-<p>
- It's true that in countries like China, where copyright law is generally not
- enforced, we may also have trouble enforcing free software license
agreements,
- as Heather Meeker suggests in her recent LinuxInsider column,
- <a href="http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/50421.html";>
- “Only in America? Copyright Law Key to Global Free Software
Model”
- </a>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- However, this is not a reason to press for more copyright enforcement in
- China. Although we would use it to protect people's freedom, we have to
- recognize that mostly it would be used by the likes of Microsoft, Disney
- and Sony to take it away.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- Ironically, we might have more success enforcing copyright in China than
- Microsoft, Disney and Sony -- because what we would want to do is easier.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- Disney wishes to stamp out semi-underground organizations that sell exact
- copies. With free software, regardless of the type of license, that kind of
- copying is legal. What we want to prevent, when the free software license is
- the GNU <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html";>GPL</a>, is the
release
- of proprietary software products based on our code. That kind of abuse is at
- its worst when carried out by large, well-known companies -- and they are
- easier targets for enforcement. So GPL enforcement in China is not a lost
- cause, though it won't be easy.
-</p>
-
-<h4> No Chinese Laundry </h4>
-
-<p>
- Nonetheless, Meeker's claim that this leads to a global problem is simply
- absurd. You can't “launder” material copyrighted in the U.S.
- by moving it through China, as she ought to know.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- If someone violates the GNU GPL by distributing a non-free modified version
- of GCC in the U.S., it won't make any difference if it was obtained or
- modified in China. U.S. copyright law will be enforced just the same.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- Although this error might seem to be the central point of Meeker's article,
- it is not. The real central point of the article is the perspective embodied
- in her use of the term “intellectual property”. She uses this
term
- pervasively as though it refers to something coherent -- something it makes
- sense to talk about and think about. If you believe that, you have accepted
the
- article's hidden assumption.
-</p>
-
-<h4>Loose Language</h4>
-
-<p>
- Sometimes Meeker switches between “intellectual property” and
- “copyright” as if they were two names for the same thing.
- Sometimes she switches between “intellectual property” and
patents
- as if they were two names for the same thing. Having studied those two laws,
- Meeker knows they are vastly different; all they have in common is a rough
- sketch of their form.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- Other “intellectual property” laws don't even share that much
with
- them. The implication that you can treat them all as the same thing is
- fundamentally misleading.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- Along with the term “intellectual property” goes a false
- understanding of what these laws are for. Meeker speaks of an
- “ethos” of “intellectual property” that exists in
the
- U.S. because “intellectual property is in the Constitution.”
- That's the mother of all mistakes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- What is really in the U.S. Constitution? It doesn't mention
- “intellectual property”, and it says nothing at all about most
of
- the laws that term covers. Only two of them -- copyright law and patent law
--
- are treated there.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- What does the Constitution say about them? What is its ethos? It is nothing
- like the “intellectual property ethos” that Meeker imagines.
-</p>
-
-<h4>Failure to Execute</h4>
-
-<p>
- What the Constitution says is that copyright law and patent law are
optional.
- They need not exist. It says that if they do exist, their purpose is to
- provide a public benefit -- to promote progress by providing artificial
- incentives.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- They are not rights that their holders are entitled to; they are artificial
- privileges that we might, or might not, want to hand out to encourage people
- to do what we find useful.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- It's a wise policy. Too bad Congress -- which has to carry it out on our
- behalf -- takes its orders from Hollywood and Microsoft instead of from us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- If you appreciate the U.S. Constitution's wisdom, don't let
- “intellectual property” into your ethos; don't let the
- “intellectual property” meme infect your mind.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- Practically speaking, copyright and patent and trademark law have only one
- thing in common: Each is legitimate only as far as it serves the public
- interest. Your interest in your freedom is a part of the public interest
- that must be served.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-<hr />
-</p>
-
-<br />
-
-<div class="copyright">
-<p>
-Return to the <a href="/home.html">GNU Project home page</a>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to
-<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
-There are also <a href="/home.html#ContactInfo">other ways to contact</a>
-the FSF.
-<br />
-Please send broken links and other corrections (or suggestions) to
-<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Copyright © 2006 Richard M. Stallman
-<br />
-Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
-permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Updated:
-<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2006/06/15 10:12:04 $ $Author: ramprasadb $
-<!-- timestamp end -->
-</p>
-</div>
-
-</body>
-</html>
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