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| Kirby Ferguson on patents, copyright, and Apple |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-09-17 18:12:31 |
| "Nothing is original, says Kirby Ferguson, creator of Everything is a Remix. From Bob Dylan to Steve Jobs, he says our most celebrated creators borrow, steal and transform. Kirby Ferguson explores creativity in a world where 'everything is a remix'." In 9 minutes and 42 seconds, Ferguson explains in plain English why patent and copyright law is fundamentally broken. |
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| RE[4]: This is blasphemy |
| By smashIt on 2012-09-18 09:56:08 |
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> 1) That patent office is filled with uninformed, people with little to zero knowledge in the field regarding the patent. ESPECIALLY so for Software. They also never seem to check for prior art. 2) Bribery you forgot 3 aspecially the USPTO earns its money through granting a patent so they are very motivated to do a bad job with their reviews |
 - Score: 6 |
| RE: TED |
| By Alfman on 2012-09-18 15:18:25 |
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Neolander, I've often mentioned that granting legal ownership of ideas in the software field is akin to granting ownership of ideas in arts & humanities. Most people can agree that patenting literary works is bad because they can understand what it is authors do. They'd want to be able to write about whatever they please regardless of who's done it before. As long as the author does his own work and doesn't copy anything outright, all ideas are fair game. The public cannot generally relate to software developers, be we really do feel the same way about our profession - I feel entitled to work on whatever I please regardless of who's been there before me. It's a great observation that the people at TED do a good job of echoing ideas that have been put forward by others in their fields. Arguably you are right, they "stole" the ideas, and arguably the "owner" might be entitled to legal compensation for it. It's pathetic, and though some extreme IP advocates (aka patent laywers) might love the concept of patenting presentations, I doubt it could actually happen because for most people this would hit too close to home. At the extreme - every school child could be liable for infringement when they copied the ideas of others in their reports, etc. We should instead recognise that copying is natural (*). It's not copying for the sake of copying, but rather copying and then adding our own personal touches. Anyone who believes they have a truly original idea is probably living in a very small world. How much do I owe you for that one Kirby Ferguson? |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[5]: This is blasphemy |
| By tanzam75 on 2012-09-18 20:23:46 |
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> Yes, it's all in ONE sentence and I have no idea what the hell it is trying to claim. What, if you write long enough sentence that no-one understands they'll just grant your patent out of exhaustion? Patent claims are written entirely by lawyers. These are the type of people who never pass up a chance to write two words where one would do. The description section tends to be slightly better than the claims section, because the lawyer will usually start from the description supplied by the original inventor. Because the lawyer didn't write the whole thing, you can occasionally see some English poke through. Lawyers like to make the law seem difficult, so that people feel that they can't tackle legal affairs without them. Just as an example, the legal documents in the Nolo books are much shorter and simpler than the typical document produced by American lawyer: Nolo: "I, name, of City, State, declare that this is my will. I revoke all wills that I have previously made." Typical lawyer: "I, Name, of City, State, being of sound and disposing mind, do hereby make, publish, and declare the following to be my Last Will and Testament, revoking all previous wills and codicils made by me." Both are equally valid, and both have been tested in court. But one of them is loaded with useless language that has absolutely no legal effect. (For example, declaring that you're "of sound and disposing mind" doesn't make you so -- and it doesn't help if someone challenges your will in court on the basis of insanity.) Edited 2012-09-18 20:24 UTC |
| - Score: 3 |
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