Les wrote:
On Sun, 2007-07-08 at 15:05 -0400, Todd Zullinger wrote:
Les Mikesell wrote:
Alan Cox wrote:
Don't know. Ask a patent lawyer
Lawyers sometimes win, sometimes lose when their opinions are tested
in court. How would I know I'm asking the one that would win?
You don't. That's the beauty of the law. :-/
There used to be a concept of "void for vagueness" which could be used
to help nullify laws which were so vague that most people couldn't
tell what they meant. I suppose that was ditched here in the USSA
along with most of the rest of the Constitution over the last 50
years.
But aren't there more appropriate lists for discussion of the
legalities and politics of patent law? Rehashing this stuff here is
just added noise on an already noisy list.
I think you are right on how much it adds to the list noise, but this
subject is a real issue with Microsoft's present actions, affecting us
greatly in what we have and do not have, and how we can use it. It may
not be technical, but it is germane to our intent to have and use
Fedora. What are the limits, how can it affect us, and what can we do
about it, if anything?
And this not only affects the US. The UK either is implementing some of
the types of law that impact this, but also the rest of the world is
looking at how to divvy up the technological pie. Musicians have lost
control of their works, and engineers have no control of theirs, should
we, as programmers and creators as well as users of technology suffer
the same fate? How can we best protect ourselves, make our creations
and have some assurance that ownership, and at least a good share of the
profitability remains ours? If we do not discuss these issues, and let
the people of the world see the issues that affect us, what will be the
long term affect? And few of us can understand the mechanisms that many
legal websites have. The verbiage is different. Lawyer speak and geek
speak are not common ground. Also everything a lawyer or legal site
says is always protected with that "This is not advice or basis for
actions. Please consult your lawyer." In other words, the law is too
flexible for us to have any assurance that we are within our rights, at
least in the US.
This affects us all. Not that we want it to, but it does. And with
Microsoft in the wings touting what it will do. I am afraid of such
things, and while that may not be reasonable to most of you, I have had
something I loved taken from me already by legal action. I am now no
longer as carefree as I once was. In fact none of us are as free as we
were, and it didn't start with G.W.Bush, but with Carter and the base
actions on all the DMCA and DRM stuff that began on his watch.
And it affects the whole world, by affecting product designs, product
availability, product transferability, and other limitations on the free
market of ideas and products. It is chilling the evolution of our
systems, and curtailing new progress. I know I haven't written anything
new for ages, nor have I seen much that is new for ages. And it is not
because all the software systems and principles are so well understood.
We all feel the oppression of the folks that want to garner all of the
IP for themselves, from the patent farms, to the fools that file patents
because they added a fastener, to all the lawyers who write the EULA's
and force us into arbitration agreements which we would never agree to.
We are held hostage in a world of legalese that we cannot penetrate or
in many cases fathom. How do we change it? By open discussion, by
getting the authorities attention to the facts and by isolating and not
developing the platforms that assume the superior attitude, and by
developing superior alternatives that do not conform to their rules and
standards. Active processes.
This forum is one of those processes.
Regards,
Les Howell
This whole thing started with the fact that you must go outside
Fedora to get a system that really plays Movies. I just put VLC Media
player on my laptop. You still have to get the big group of supporting
dependants so it will run on Fedora 7. Your not done. You need to get
libdvdcss which is 35KBytes and is crucial to viewing DVD movies THAT I
Paid the going price for. So people think it's going to the artists.
Most goes to the companies that pay the taxes they owe to sell the
stuff. The entire thing stinks.
I pay to get the DVD Movie. That should keep the bastards happy.
Karl
