---- Original Message ---- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Subject: Re: microsoft vs opensource Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:16:54 +0000
>Miles Fidelman wrote: >> steef wrote: >>> >>> is there somebody out there who knows the (juridical) implications >of >>> the kind of "intellectual property" when somebody is going into >the >>> bush and tries to patent - (and gets this patent indeed) - a very >>> valuable indigenous procedée before a court in the Western world >>> without the consent of the people who developed that procedée over > >>> centuries? This happened a few years ago, when Sony misappropriated certain aspects of the Maori people of New Zealand for incorporation into one of their games. Their was an outcry, and Sony ceased and desisted. Their are now a number of programmes, internationally, the primary concerns of which are the protection of the intellectual property of indigenous peoples. Is that different, or not, from patenting a very >valuable >>> script without the consent of the programmer of this software? As >far >>> as i understand that is where MS often is after. >> yup - they're called lawyers (or less polite terms, depending on >who >> they're working for and how honorable or dishonorable the >intentions >> of their clients) This is what will be interesting when Microsoft's code is finally looked at in a fully open manner. Their recently expressed ideology of fostering, and getting directly involved in, may well be all they need to hide the fact that they,ve been stealing code for years. >> >> >i understand that. maybe i did not put my question right. i should >like >a short answer that concerns the content/heart of this matter. > >s I've seen only one term applied to this conversation which I would deem accurate, Steef, which is why I withdrew from it. One personality knows nothing of the subject. Another knows a little about the subject. Consequently, there's a stream of misdirected drivel taking up list space. I've been involved in Peter Suber's efforts toward open content in academic publications since the Topico list days, Larry Lessig's icommons project since its inception and assisted in forming the educational licence formats before that, along with discussions involving the stance of intellectual property within the context of Free Trade Agreements between countries, principally, U.S/Australia and New Zealand/China, so am reasonably au fait with the subject matter. But, from what I have seen of this discussion, so far, nobody is in a position to answer questions on the subject. Regards, David Palmer.
