On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 7:21 PM, Luis Gustavo Lira
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> We have been working with international initiatives: Lemelson Foundation RAMP,
Are you aware that Jerome Lemelson made his fortune by using a
practice ("submarine" patents) that would likely be strongly frowned
upon by Free Culture? Submarine patents are a horrible abuse of the
patent system of surreptitiously patenting something, usually obvious,
delaying the filing of the patent (so no one can search for it),
waiting for someone else to come up with the same idea and make it
profitable, and then extorting money them by attempting to enforce the
patent. I worry that by accepting money from the Lemelson Foundation,
you may be steered toward projects that encourage similar abuses of
the intellectual property system, or at least toward the mindset that
using and abusing the intellectual property system is perfectly fine
because Lemelson did it and got away with it and perhaps even seems
respectable despite it.
My school (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has formed a
partnership with the Lemelson Foundation, and there are a few of us
(albeit a minority) who feel that the partnership may have been one of
MIT's poorer decisions due to how dirty the money is.
--ken
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