Posted by manualblock [ 69.112.43.172 ] on January 12, 2006 at 16:52:02:
In Reply to: Re: legalities of reverse engineering posted by Bill Martinelli on January 12, 2006 at 14:03:06:
Wheew; you don't take in too much territory do you Bill?
The thing about copyright is this; at what point does a persons right to control a design remove anothers right to use it?
I am not a pro at this; all I did was ponder the possibilities and come down on a side I thought was the most honorable. I thought what if a guy designs a new boiler nozzle that can shoot such a fine mist that it can save the homeowner thousands of dollars over the lifetime of his home. Now say that nozzle is patented by a guy who claims he designed it. Fifty other guys had the same idea around the same time but now this guy owns the rights. Maybe he doesn't want to produce this; just lease it out. And maybe those lease rates are too high. Should one of the other fifty guys who thought of this design and who is willing to offer all of the cash strapped homeowners a fair price for this nozzle be shut down? Should this guy have the right to prevent people who need that savings from realising them out of greed?
I say no.
Thats how I see it.
Is it fair to the guy with the patent? About as fair as it would be if he was able to stop the access to that design for everyone else. So I come down on the side of restricted access; you can't prevent a design from being produced out of a desire to be usurious. Would that stop research and developement? Well; the studies say no.
I can speak to art and music; the music will be made regardless of any scheme to prevent access and the easier it is to acquire the music the more and better music seems to be made.
Grey area; like the one-handed economist; on the other hand....
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