>Perhaps the patent equivalen of GPL? >Because the answer to "why can't we apply the wiki idea to publishing information?" was "copyrights and >licenses" until GPL became a viable solution ..
There is a difference. I have an unused trade secret in my back pocket. When I came up with it, it was a solution to an unsolved problem that was costing millions of dollars. I didn't patent it because it would have just been copied. And, unless you have millions in a war chest for legal, large companies will sue you for scores of patent infringements for things you've never heard of and you will lose your retirement trying to defend yourself against these lawsuits that are not technically frivilous. (I know someone who was the coinventer of the first bioengineering patent and when a large company copied the idea, they took the life savings of his coinventer who invented the patent when he aske for royalties). But, I still have hope that a company with a legal fund and good lawyers will be interesting in an agreement to own my IP, so I can make money on it. What you are asking is for millions of IP to be given away....and the people who will use the Wiki will be large corporations who will hire engineers and tell them "copy it." So, why work hard to hand over your work to a big multinational for free? Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
