| ??? 02/14/07 18:16 Read: times |
#132967 - The deal is... Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Joseph Hebert said:
about Marxism.
Rob, I reject your assertion that the public, or the public domain, has any claim whatsoever to wealth that I produce. If I create something of value, it is mine, or my heirs', so long as I have decendants to inherit it, or a foundation to pass it on to (unless I sell it to you, in which case it's yours). Where is the "loss" to the public domain? What did they have, that they no longer have? What did they once possess that I deprived them of by keeping what I produce? Then do not seek Copyright or Patent protection on it. That's the deal they provide. Limited monopoly for eventual insertion into the public domain. This is long settled law. My suggestion of some form of perpetual copyright would require a constitutional amendment in the US. If you'd like to go see some "derived works" of the public domain go watch Disney's Snow White. The heirs of the brothers Grimm received no compensation at all. Disney has made a ton of money off the public domain. Steamboat Willie would have entered the public domain this decade, had it not had it's copyright retroactivly extended back in 1998. This actually led to Supreme Court case that challenged the extention, in part asking how you could offer incentives retroactivley to dead people. More to the point... Since, thanks to Congress, almost nothing has slipped into the public domain since around 1922, the very concept of the public domain is being lost, and the phrase "for a limited time" in the US Consitution has no meaning. This attempted to directly link to the abuse of the commerce cluse that we see all around us today. It was actually a really interesting case, which SCOTUS ruled against. And if anyone thinks the word "Marxism" is hyperbolic, or too harsh, consider Jeff's earlier post in this thread (Subject: "Huh?"). The parallels are certainly there, but it lacks the central planning, and more importantly the mandated exclusion of anything but the central planning. (For the record - Joe, I'm no fan of Marxism or even our watered down faux Socialism. (Buy your own prescription meds!) If pressed, I'd probably pick Scalia as my favorite sitting SCOTUS Judge, and I'd love to see someone build a Bed and Breakfast on Justice Souter's NH house as a reprisal for the Kelo case. :-) What is this if not, "From each according to his ability. To each according to his needs." There is no threat of force, and no central planning. It fails on these points. It's more like communal anarchy. Rob, you wrote One way is a surefire way to build an economy, another... We don't know yet. In point of fact we do know. Marxism, Communism, has either failed, or is failing, everywhere it has been tried. Conversely the economies which drive and support the historically huge population of this planet were all, without exception, built on free market capitalism. The more they adopt socialist philosophies the weaker they become. Conversely, the more formerly communist economies become free markets the stronger they become. Except there are capitalists making money off OSS. It's a different business model, for sure. But I have a co-worker that made enough off the RedHat IPO to buy a new car... cash. That's why I said "we don't know yet". It may end up in the end to be better for the economy overall, or it may turn out to be a bad idea. The solution is to assure those grad students in their garage that if they write an EDA package that works well, they can sell thousands of copies of it to people all over and no one will ever be able to take it away from them. Ok. But if they seek copyright protection for it, it becomes part of the public domain at some point. That's the deal. The problem is, we have no other legal contruct/mechanism for them to claim this ownership right. That's what I was referring to in a previous post. So to all the French and European socialists, and the labor unions of Michigan, and to all of you who are dreaming of your Open Source Eutopia, I say be careful what you wish for. You might get it. You and I agree much more than we disagree. Shall we discuss OU vs. UT? :D Rob |
