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To: TexasGator
I'm not a fan of 1%ers in general, although I do admire brother Dave Spurgeon.

That said, IP laws, i.e. copyright, trademark, patent, have outlived whatever usefulness they once had.

4 posted on 12/12/2018 9:22:41 AM PST by OddLane
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To: OddLane

No, as a matter of fact they have not.


7 posted on 12/12/2018 9:33:17 AM PST by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: OddLane
That said, IP laws, i.e. copyright, trademark, patent, have outlived whatever usefulness they once had.

I would disagree with you on that to a certain degree. Trademarks are something that I think it actually makes sense to enforce, because it adds information to a consumer's buying decisions. Companies spend billions to develop and protect their marks, because they are an easy way for consumers to identify the authenticity of goods.

Trademarks can also be lost if the owner of a mark doesn't actively work to protect it, thus abandoned marks can return to the public domain if they are not used and actively protected.

As for copyright, I'm right there with you. The terms of copyright have been expanded to the point of being nothing less than sheer lunacy. Next year will be the first year in this country when any works enter the public domain in 20 years. I strongly support a broad restriction of copyright, such that it returns to its original 14 year term, renewable once for a total of 28 years. This would add some sanity to copyright that we are currently sorely missing.

The government has also screwed up patents pretty badly. "First to file" needs to be tossed out with prejudice as well as some of the silly design and 'process' patents that have screwed up the tech industry over the last few decades.

18 posted on 12/12/2018 10:32:54 AM PST by zeugma (Power without accountability is fertilizer for tyranny.)
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