Path: utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!unmvax!deimos.cis.ksu.edu!rutgers!apple!desnoyer
From: desnoyer@Apple.COM (Peter Desnoyers)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: New Communicational Morality
Keywords: software, copyright, society
Message-ID: <29186@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 18 Apr 89 16:44:16 GMT
References: <754@infovax.lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de> <3687@ficc.uu.net> <1672@orion.cf.uci.edu> <1038@afit-ab.arpa> <29140@apple.Apple.COM> <3103@looking.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 49

In article <3103@looking.UUCP> brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes:
>In article <29140@apple.Apple.COM> desnoyer@Apple.COM (Peter Desnoyers) writes:
>>What people may be forgetting here is that intellectual property is
>>"created" by the legal system. Without laws governing intellectual
>>property, it is worth little to nothing.*
>
>You have it exactly wrong.  Intellectual property is created by people.
>It is protected by the legal system.  It is material property, like land
>and ore that is created by the legal system, since it was not created by
>people.
>

Let me put it in a different light. The concept of ownership of
personal property (e.g. tools, animals) is ancient, and seems to be
agreed upon in all cultures I know of. Our concept of land ownership
probably arises from the towns in middle to late medieval Europe. 
It has been around long enough so that there is clear consensus
in our society on what property is, and what theft is.

Intellectual property is fundamentally different, as you can't take it
with you and you can't patrol its borders. It is a purely legal
creation (like the corporation, for instance) and has only been
evolving for perhaps the last three centuries. The definition of IP is
still not agreed upon. (compare US copyright laws to the Berne
convention, for instance.)

In other words, don't jump in sounding like Milton Friedman when
someone says "the government should decide what constitutes
protectable IP" or words to that effect. If the government did not do
that, IP would be worthless.

>Tell the owners of the formula for Coca-Cola that IP is worth nothing
>without the law.  Tell AT&T, the owners of Unix.  Both of these highly
>valuable pieces of IP are not protected by any form of intellectual
>property law.  (Other than trademark and binary copyrights and the setuid
                            ^^^^^^^^^
>patent.  The source code to Unix is still unprotected)
 ^^^^^^^

You reference several forms of IP protection above. You neglect to
mention that Unix is protected by a source license, which is again a
purely legal creation. Coke's protection of their formula is based on
a time-honored method that predates governments - don't tell anyone.
It is certainly effective, but I don't think MicroSoft would be happy
to know that they can keep people from copying their software by not
selling any copies. 


				Peter Desnoyers