How long should copyright last in a digital age?

,----[ Quote ]
| We don't have an IP problem. We have a momentary problem figuring out how to
| monetize IP in a digital world. Software is figuring it out through SaaS and
| open source. The music and film industries will figure it out, too. In fact,
| iTunes shows the way, as Keegan indicates. We shouldn't be too quick to jump
| on copyright extensions to solve a problem that really has nothing to do with
| copyright, except for the unfortunate fetishing of it.
`----

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9...bj=TheOpenRoad


Related:

What Does "IP" Really Mean?

,----[ Quote ]
| For readers of Linux Journal, "IP" almost certainly refers to the Internet
| Protocol, part of the TCP/IP suite that underpins the Internet. But to most Â*
| people, if it means anything, "IP" refers to something known as "intellectual
| property". This widespread recognition is rather curious,
| because "intellectual property" does not exist. Â*
`----

http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1005736


A Patent Lie

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft sang a very different tune in 1991. In a memo to his
| senior executives, Bill Gates wrote, "If people had understood how
| patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented,
| and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete
| standstill today." Mr. Gates worried that "some large company will
| patent some obvious thing" and use the patent to "take as much of
| our profits as they want."
`----

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/opinion/09lee.html


,----[ Quote ]
| ...Thanks to Mr. Gates, we now know that an open Internet with protocols
| anyone can implement is communism...
| Â*
| ...Mr. Gates' secret is out now--he too was a "communist;" he, too,
| recognized that software patents were harmful-until Microsoft
| became one of these giants...
`----

http://news.com.com/Bill+Gates+and+o...j=news.1071.20


Big businesses boast of patent benefits, for small businesses

,----[ Quote ]
| A report published by an EU task force on intellectual property claims
| that small businesses benefit from a patent system, despite lacking
| almost any participation by the small business community.
|
| Instead, the report, titled IPR (intellectual property rights) for
| competitiveness and innovation, was written up almost entirely by
| large corporations and the patent industry.
|
| [...]
|
| The report does note objections from the likes of patentfrei.de and
| Sun Microsystems, which were recorded at some length in the report.
| But this does not appear to have impacted the conclusion of the
| report in any way
|
| [...]
|
| Jean-Pierre Laisne, of ObjectWeb, an open source software community,
| said that he found the report useless: participants were told that
| all their contributions would be recorded but at the end only
| those of Business Software Alliance and Microsoft were used.
`----

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/99155/bi...usinesses.html