Richard Esplin
Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:32:14 -0800
Some food for thought:
On Friday 25 March 2005 09:24, Chris Alvarez wrote:
<snip>
> Hmm, I guess we are. We do the same with respect to the rest of our
> property ("I am appealing to the government to hold a gun to your head
> and force you to behave in a certain way with respect to dealing with
> my family, my house and my things"). Using words that make it look
> horrible does not make your concepts more meaningful. That's what
> anti-LDS propaganda is all about. Playing with rethorics is wrong.
I hope you see the hypocrisy in the statement "Playing with rethorics[sic] is wrong". Rhetoric is the effective use of language. Everyone who uses language uses rhetoric. Some are better at it than others. Language is a tool, like a computer. It is not wrong to use the tool, it is wrong to use the tool to beguile one's audience. <snip> > No, copying is not a right. You aregiving as example things that were > never intended or designed to be copyrighted (language, parents' DNA, > etc). I am talking about products you make with the intent of earning > profit. Language is what copyright is all about. Language is the representation of ideas, which tangible representation is inherently copyrightable. If you use language in the same way I do, and it does not fit within fair use, I can recover damages. Isn't biomedical research using DNA to make products for a profit? Currently one can patent gene sequences, and many want to copyright DNA. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=patent+gene&btnG=Search http://www.dnacopyright.com/copyrightinformation/whycopyright.html When <i>reducto ad absurdum</i> is reality, you know that the balance between private ownership of intellectual property and public domain is out of kilter. <snip> Richard Esplin -------------------- BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ The opinions expressed in this message are the responsibility of their author. They are not endorsed by BYU, the BYU CS Department or BYU-UUG. ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list