Via Reddit, I found an interesting speech by Noam Chomsky on Intelectual Property
Although I just skimmed through, it reminded me of a thought I had today: that IP, patents, copyright, etc, are all related to conservatorism.
The idea is that any institution strives for evolution and self-preservation(the survival instinct), much like any living being. Corporations are a lot more poweful than startups, and as any massive institution, no matter what their initial ideology(_Don’t do evil_, for instance) or corporate politics, they’ll eventually try to insure their survival; IP laws are only the most obvious of the legal tools protecting corporations; in the case of CocaCola, BMW or McDonalds, via trademarks; in the case of MS, Google, Apple, Amazon and co via patents and BSA. In the case of Sony or Virgin, DRM’s and RIAA.
While cloaking as promoters of innovation and supporters, all IP laws are nothing more than protection mechanisms for corporations against outside danger. Any lawmaker should clearly understand this when voting for or against IP laws; it’s not about innovation or entrepreneurship. It’s only about corporations. No startup will ever get to file as many patents as a corporation. And no startup ever does it willingly. Patents are weapons, and corporations have them in a much greater amount. Thus ensuring their victory in any legal war. Thus ensuring the crushing of any smaller competitor, if opportunity occurs.
orice altceva! Este gratis! :)
Alex este programator, antreprenor, entuziast, blogger, early adopter si in general un digerati obsedat de internet, tehnologie si software.
Alex este freelancer, antreprenor, blogger, programator si in general pasionat de internet si tehnologie.
2 comentarii
This judgement seems somewhat flawed to me. I doubt that an (truly) innovating startup can survive without IP laws, as any original invention of their own will be copied verbatim by the behemoths of the industry leaving them (the startup) with nothing.
As I said, IP are weapons, and the behemoths always have them in a crushing amount. There is no(and I emphasize NO) startup that doesn’t already infringe some existing patents. And startups will never have lawyers as good as corporations.
The cause of all this resides in the fact that patents have nowadays got to cover common sense notions (single/double click, autocomplete, todolists, compression algorithms (see GIF), etc).
Once upon a time, when algorithms, ideas and common sense were not patentable(but you could always keep the industry secret, if you wanted), the IP laws would have fulfilled the exact purpose you talk about: protecting innovation from IP theft. It is not the case nowadays, where science is prohibited from innovation exactly by these patents.
I got to read the above mentioned Chomski ideas, it’s a great reading about geopolitics and what is really behind all this IP protection and open-trade buzz.