After takin' a swig o' grog, Erik Funkenbusch belched out this bit o' wisdom:
> On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 13:39:22 -0500, Linonut wrote:
>
>> After takin' a swig o' grog, Erik Funkenbusch belched out this bit o' wisdom:
>>
>>> There are no loopholes. The wording is very clear. If you're writing code
>>> to interoperate, you won't be sued. That is, if you create an
>>> implementaiton that conforms to the specification, they will not sue you.
>>> If you start altering the formats for your own purposes, all bets are off.
>>
>> Only Microsoft is allowed to do /that/.
>
> That's because they created them and own them. So yeah, only Microsoft is
> allowed to do that.
Obviously. That's why anyone who depends on their specifications for
the purposes of interoperability is probably acting foolish.
>>>> Patents are not property
>>>
>>> They are, in fact, property according to US law.
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property
>>>
>>> "In law, intellectual property (IP) is an umbrella term for various legal
>>> entitlements which attach to certain types of information, ideas, or other
>>> intangibles in their expressed form."
>>
>> "However, the use of the term and the concepts it is said to embody
>> are the subject of some controversy (see below)."
>
> By people who are typically not lawyers, and most vehemently by RMS, who is
> not a lawyer. Regardless of whether you agree if it "should" bwe property,
> the fact is the law sees it as such today.
What about Eben Moglen?
Anyway, no one really knows what it is, I'll bet:
http://www.investorwords.com/2526/intellectual_property.html
Any intangible asset that consists of human knowledge and ideas. Some
examples are patents, copyrights, trademarks and software. Most such
assets cannot be recongized on a balance sheet when internally
generated, since it is very difficult to objectively value
intellectual property assets (slightly different rules apply in the
case of software). They can, however, be included in a balance
sheet if acquired, which allows a more accurate valuation for the
asset (that is, the acquisition cost).
An intangible asset that can be included in a balance sheet! Weird!
http://www.lectlaw.com/def/i051.htm
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY - Property that can be protected under federal
law, including copyrightable works, ideas, discoveries, and
inventions. Such property would include novels, sound recordings, a
new type of mousetrap, or a cure for a disease.
A bit better, but still very vague. Are all ideas and discoveries
property? That would sure set science back quite a bit.
http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/
Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial
property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial
designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which
includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays,
films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings,
photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs.
Of the three, this one is probably best.
It, at least, hews to RMS main beef about "intellectual property", which
you seem to want to misrepresent: that intellectual property is a term
that covers too wide a range of activity, and thus it is better to speak
of copyright and patents (for example).
--
Refactor Windows.
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