__/ [ Mark Kent ] on Wednesday 30 August 2006 06:34 \__
> begin oe_protect.scr
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> __/ [ nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ] on Tuesday 29 August 2006 15:55 \__
>>
>>> BearItAll wrote:
>>>> nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > Quote:
>>>> > ----------
>>>> > US courts are endangering the very existence of free and open source
>>>> > software, according to a leading digital rights pressure group...
>>>> >
>>>> > The Federal Court of Appeals has recently used a "suggestion test" to
>>>> > determine whether or not a patent is "obvious". The EFF argues that
>>>> > the test forces those opposing a patent's grant to produce documents
>>>> > proving that even the most obvious improvement has been suggested
>>>> > before....
>>>> >
>>>> > "In the case of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects, the
>>>> > suggestion test has especially pernicious effects," it says. "Because
>>>> > [open source] collaborations are forged primarily through community
>>>> > rather than capital investment, many FOSS projects lack the funding to
>>>> > pay patent counsel, much less afford litigation. Thus, the normal
>>>> > costs of doing business in the patent-laden world of information
>>>> > technology - opinion letters, litigation, etc. - are exponentially
>>>> > detrimental for FOSS."
>>>> > -------------
>>>> > End quote
>>>> >
>>>> > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/29/oss_under_pressure/
>>>>
>>>> This Patent trolling is going on only in America where the trolls are
>>>> claiming patents on software and ideas that weren't created in America
>>>> at all.
>>>>
>>>> American law has made it possible for Americans to steal from every
>>>> other country in the world, this stuff doesn't belong to them so they
>>>> have no right to claim it as theirs, it is stealing.
>>>>
>>>> I'm glad the EU are not willing to put up with this, nor recognise many
>>>> of these patents. So actually genuine patents are likely to be blocked
>>>> in the same batchs as the fake ones.
>>>
>>> I'd feel encouraged if I thought the EU or the rest of the world could
>>> put a stop to this patent nonsense. But the US has managed to convince
>>> most of the rest of the world to go along with DRM (although there may
>>> be a mini-revolt in Sweden going on right now). They also mostly
>>> succeeded in preventing the rest of the world from circumventing US
>>> drug patents (on AIDS drugs, etc), with Brazil and India putting up
>>> some resistance. As they say, we have ways of making you comply.
>>>
>>> Speaking of patents, there is the case of the seed stock that dies
>>> after one generation, forcing farmers to purchase more from Montsanto.
>>> This is called "protecting Montsanto's intellectual property." This is
>>> creating heaps of good will around the world. It's a biological
>>> equivalent of what the RIAA and BSA would like to with CDs and software.
>>
>> Tower Records has just declared bankruptcy, again. I am worried that this
>> will have online shops (inclusive of DRM) promoted further. The artists
>> make less money on fewer sales (ask those who ditched iTunes) while other
>> similar initiatives, such as Live Marketplace, want to take control of
>> everything. Do you Trust them (pardon the pun)?
>>
>
> There's plenty of cash being made in Music, so if record shops are going
> out of business here, it's because their margins are too small.
> Possible causes: 1) record companies prices are too high (likely), 2)
> shop's own costs are too high (less likely, they're probably all much
> the same, but still a possibility), 3) customers don't like the shops
> (don't think that's the case, as Tower were popular).
>
>>
>> Just imagine. From being dominant in software, you can extend to media (TV
>> included) and sales of general commodities. And linkage that makes use of
>> an existing monopoly gives an unfair advantage that must be stopped. It's
>> Big Brother (not the TV show). It has a sibling called Google.
>>
>>
>
> This is the whole vertically integrated business model which can lead to
> a perfect monopoly. Own everything from production to consumption, and
> you are untouchable. MS have come very close to achieving this by
> taking control of what OSes the OEMs can put on their computers, and
> then by using that monopoly to destroy competition in the applications
> arena - a perfect vertically integrated monopoly... without owning the
> OEMs.
They have a $500 million budget to destroy IBM as a decision-maker. Gates
said IBM was the biggest 'threat'. Apprently, he doesn't like sanity and
enlightenment.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | Switch to GNU/Linux. < http://www.getgnulinux.org/ >
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