Re: Patent pending: Network-based classified information systems.

>> Is the public best served by the Law not recognising any Intellectual
>> Property rights (such as currently expressed in copyright and patent
>> law)? This is often argued in the positive by parties who have no
>> Intellectual Property to protect.

It is also argued in the positive by people who /do/ produce what
would be otherwise considered IP.  I am a software engineer and a
writer; I comply with IP law to the extent that my works for hire
are owned by my employers, and I don't plagiarize or pirate others,
but I do not and will not hold a patent or copyright in my own name
for my own personal ethical reasons, and I resent the implication
that it is because I don't produce the same quality of work as
others who do rely on legal protection.

> And I would like to point out to the reader that when I tried to
> point out to Mr. Mills in private email that I did, in fact, have
> intellectual property to protect he dismissed it as ``bragging''?
> That's some double standard.

It is always hard to argue against government support of anything
with those who take the support.  Arguing against farm subsidies
with a farmer whose wheat prices are supported, or against military
spending with a military contractor.  Even if one believes, as in
this case, that removing the support will benefit everyone--including
the writer, farmer, and contractor in the long run--people are
often more concerned with their paycheck next week than with their
eventual ability to earn a living over their lifetime.  To some
extent, that's understandable.  You should expect to ruffle feathers.

--
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC

Received on Friday, 27 February 1998 15:44:36 UTC