Copyrights, Copylefts, and Copywrongs

[Beavah]

Nah, acco40, I was just pickin' one of the more egregious out of recent events, eh? Apple's "patent" on phones with rounded corners and screens with black borders.

 

I do think there are classes of patents that raise more problems than they're worth. Design patents, business method patents, da move toward software patents, etc. I'll leave the biologists on the forum to comment on the merits of plant patents, but on the surface this old furry critter finds that a bit problematic as well.

 

B

 

 

[packsaddle]

Plant patents: yes, I'm unfamiliar with the law on this but unless someone has engineered an actual NEW and UNIQUE type of plant which as far as we can determine CAN'T occur without specific human intervention (like Monsanto does with GM crops) I can't support gaining patent (or copyright) protection for things that nature can do for free. Likewise, I thought getting a patent on, for example, enzyme cofactors, was a bit squiggly. That's like getting a patent on using silicon for semiconductors (and who knows, there may BE a patent on that) or perhaps on the use of the semicolon.

 

Really, we bring this stuff on ourselves. Do I need to quote Gordon again?

[Eamonn]

I don't know hardly anything about copyrights.

Used to think that if I used something that was covered by the copyright laws and made mention of who owned the copyright I was in the clear.

Seems thats not the case.

I really don't want to cheat anyone out of anything that's rightfully theirs.

My only run in with these laws was when I wanted to copy the video parts of the movies for Wood Badge.

The fellow in the video store wasn't very keen on making the copies, but when I explained that I was paying to show the movie clips he had a change of heart.

Also ran foul of the law when one jamboree patrol wanted to be the umper-lumper Patrol. I sent off and had 50 patrol patches made. Then the company who made them said that we couldn't use them. By then it was too late, I had given them out and most of the Scouts had them sewn on their shirts.

So as not to alarm anyone, I just kept my big mouth shut!

 

I went wild a few weeks back and bought a new blue-ray disk player from Amazon it is really neat. It makes a wireless connection to my Internet router where I can if I want download movies from Net-flicks and Amazon movies and TV.

Had to laugh, after years of moaning and groaning about there being nothing on TV but re-runs and repeats, now they want to charge me for watching them.

 

I can't remember the name of who it was? But I do remember them charging me for having a juke box in the bar.

I owned the juke box, I bought and paid for the CD's. Yet they said I needed to pay for the rights to play them.

I tried to argue that I'd paid any thing that might be owed when I bought the CD's. This argument didn't hold water and I ended up paying about $375.00 a year.

You win some and you lose some.

Ea.