Posts tagged “intellectual property”

CNN's poll shows 49% think YouTube shouldn't be liable at all, but popular opinion didn't save Napster either. Google's acquisition looks naive in hindsight. YouTube's going down the same path, the media companies will get paid, and some new startup will take YouTube's place. Same story, different players.

Software patents differ fundamentally from copyright: copyright protects your specific work, but patents let you block anyone from implementing similar ideas, even independently. This stifles innovation, which depends on building on existing ideas. Software patents serve lawyers, not inventors, and shouldn't be allowed in the EU.

SCO is picking a fight it can't win by threatening IBM's AIX license. But the real issue is bigger: overzealous copyright and patent claims are strangling innovation. Copyrighting UNIX now is like copyrighting "car" in 1950. The system is broken, and it's killing the internet.