Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!sun-arpa!male!pitstop!texsun!texbell!uhnix1!sugar!ficc!jeffd
From: jeffd@ficc.uu.net (jeff daiell)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Probelms With Protecting Intellectual Property
Summary: Worth a try
Keywords: property, Human rights, politicians, private groups
Message-ID: <3970@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 25 Apr 89 13:13:27 GMT
References: <233@imspw6.UUCP> <740@harrier.ukc.ac.uk>
Organization: Ferranti International Controls
Lines: 39

In article <740@harrier.ukc.ac.uk>, mch@ukc.ac.uk (Martin Howe) writes:
> 
> 
> I thought up the idea of branch target cacheing ...
> then read that AMD had already patented the idea.
> ....   NO ONE should have intellectual property
> rights to something like branch target caching or trash cans as just about
> EVERYONE was bound to think of it within a few years, or already had.
> 
> This sort of thing is normally decided by judges, but they are usually laymen
> w.r.t. computer science and anyway, "the law is an ass" (no, I don't know
> who said that :-). 
> 
> I'd like to think that Congress and Parliament could formulate a suitable
> set of guidelines ...  but I can't see it happening.
> 

I believe it was one of the Johnsons - Ben or Sam, that is, not
Andrew or Lyndon - who made the remark.

It may not be easy to protect the Human right to intellectual property,
but I would argue that, ethically and practically, it's certainly
worth the effort.

Second, even if politicians can't come up with an acceptable "set of
guidelines" (heh heh -- should we send these postings about copyrights
to Joe Biden?), perhaps a private group (or groups) could.  


Para un Tejas Libre,

Jeff Daiell


-- 
       "The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those 
   who, in times of moral crisis, preserved their neutrality."

                                        -- Dante