On Monday, January 23, 2012 17:37:59 Nick Sabalausky wrote: > IP is evil. That's what I love about China: Not much respect for IP. Thanks > to China's disregard for such things, I have an adaptor that lets me use the > fantastic DualShock2 on Xbox1, GC or PC. That would *never* happen in the > US or any heavily-US-influenced country. The corporations and lawyers just > wouldn't allow it.
IP is not entirely evil. For instance, I think that it's perfectly legitimate for an author to want to be paid for the book that they wrote. The same goes for a song or a movie. And if I write code, and I don't release it under an open source license, then no one has any business using it without my permission as long as the copyright holds. The problem is that companies take it way too far. Too much is protected - the prime example of this being software patents (it's ludicrous to patent an idea IMHO) - and companies go too far in protecting it (e.g. MPAA or RIAA). The end result is that instead of legitimately protecting innovation and inventions, IP is now frequently used to stifle innovation and prevent competition. The basic concept isn't necessarily bad, but how it's been applied has gone way too far. - Jonathan M Davis
