2006-10-30 Doing Away With Intellectual Property

So, what can we do to fight the excesses of copyright and patents?

1. Some online shops such as Amazon allow customers to tag their products. Let’s tag the DRM supporting media players & the DRM protected media using a tag: DefectiveByDesign. Check it out: defectivebydesign tag at amazon.com.

2. Some courts in Europe are starting to reject software and business practice patents. Heise has an example from the UK. ¹

3. Developping countries are starting to resist pressure at the WIPO for more restrictive regimes. Heise has an example from recent talks in Geneva. ² A report in English is available from the IntellectualPropertyWatch. ³ The IP Watch article also gives a hint at how such meetings are run. It’s important that a presentation happens as part of a distinguished item instead of the catch-all “Other Issues”. It’s important that a presentation be given, and not a statement be made. Fascinating & silly.

DRM

DRM

DefectiveByDesign

defectivebydesign tag at amazon.com

Heise

¹

Heise

²

IntellectualPropertyWatch

³

I’m most impressed by the tagging campaign, however.

​#Copyright ​#Patents