Features: Open-Source Software: Who Needs Intellectual Property?
,----[ Quote ]
| The market for open-source software--uncopyrighted, freely
| reproducible computer programs--is not well understood by economists.
| A central source of surprise is that innovation can thrive in a
| market without traditional intellectual property (IP). But as we
| argued in a 2005 unpublished paper, "Perfectly Competitive Innovation,"
| as a matter of theory there is no reason to believe that monopoly
| power through IP is needed for innovation. The market for
| open-source software is the poster child for this perspective.
|
| First, understand that the market for open-source software is a
| classic example of a competitive market. It is characterized by
| the voluntary renunciation of copyright and patent. Buyers are
| entitled to make their own copies, modified or not, and sell them.
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http://www.fee.org/publications/the-freeman/article.asp?aid=6608
Yesterday:
Ballmer: Novell deal proves open source needs to 'respect IP rights'
,----[ Quote ]
| The same week that Microsoft issued a press release providing further
| details about some of the technological advances that will result
| from the November 2006 technology agreement between Novell and
| Microsoft, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Wall Street what he
| really thinks the deal means to Microsoft.
|
| During a forecast update meeting for financial analysts and shareholders on
| February 15, Ballmer reiterated that, to him, the deal is more about
| Microsoft exerting intellectual property (IP) pressure on Novell than
| anything else.
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http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=265
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