On Jun 9, 2008, at 6:19 PM, Dan Saffer wrote:
But once I started working in the software and hardware world, it's a whole different ballgame. Intellectual Property is taken seriously.
100% correct. And as the "web" people evolve back to the where the future digital game is going to be played -- that being hardware bundled with software solutions for truly rich digital products -- I assure you this issue will become very real for a lot of people who want to practice design professionally at that level.
So even if (as assuredly it would) inspire us or enlighten us or whatever, it is best to avoid them. In this case, yes, the lawyers have won.
Yup. And in case it was not stated, the correct way to fight patent law is to get involved in politics and get your representative in Congress to work to get the law changed. The *incorrect* way to do it is by doing things that can put your fellow design professionals at risk, like linking patents or discussing their contents openly in an effort to show The Man what is what.
So, I'll ask again -- even though this time patents with my name on them were linked, which therefore means it won't affect me personally in this instance -- please do not post links or otherwise discuss the contents of patents on the IxDA distribution list.
Seriously.... do people want folks to quit the list over this issue? I assure you if I walked into the lawyer's offices over at Google, Yahoo, Adobe, Microsoft, or pretty much any major Silicon Valley company and informed them that people were discussing and posting patents on it, this distribution list would *lose* every single one of those people as a contributor or subscriber to this list.
Why on earth would any of you want to play that sort of game? Really... The lawyers will win. And you are honestly putting the IxDA board in a very tricky pickle for no real good reason. The IxDA will evolve with the right policy and people will learn not to do it and yes, there will be the occasional slip up... But seriously, if you don't like the law, go work to get it changed.
-- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
