> I distinguish between hardware and software patents not because I'm a
> "fundamentalist materialist" (I'm not at all), but because I know what
> I'm talking about: Software patents would cause a lot of problems that
> hardware patents don't cause (see e.g. http://www.noepatents.org ).
>
> Chris
That's no answer Chris, Private
property causes all kinds of problems that communal property doesn't as well but
we are all capitalists here. The issue is whether your mind and
ideas are private property or not and whether you can license their products AND
whether those licenses have a basis in law. We voice teachers
here in the United States cannot sell and license our product because of what
they call the "Gift of God" clause in the law which states that voice is not
taught but is a gift of God and therefore contracts cannot be entered into
between a teacher and student for a part of future proceedings from the
student's career. What that did was stop private scholarships
to students for future gains, cut back on teacher's investments in their
students, increase "scale" group education and basically kill all serious
vocal art composition in America since the students rarely had a teacher willing
to invest the time, resources and connections that had fed the growth in new
compositions prior to that court's rulings. In short, you
don't know of what you speak. If your statistical expertise makes
you more capable than I at that then my experience makes your comments
theoretical at best.
Ray
