Blogs > Liberty and Power > The Open-Source Society and Its Enemies

Nov 16, 2004

The Open-Source Society and Its Enemies


by Liberty and Power


[cross-posted at Austro-Athenian Empire]

Microsoft is apparently now attempting to use patent law as a club against open-source competitors like Linux, as well as against the basic protocols of the internet itself; see the story here.

Anyone still think intellectual property laws are something other than pure evil?

Écrasez l’infâme!

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Gary McGath - 11/18/2004

(Looks as if not specifying a subject results in an unclickable comment reference in the list -- sorry)

The software patent system is clearly insane. But that's a poor argument against copyright.

Gary McGath - 11/18/2004

The software patent system is clearly insane. But that's a poor argument against copyright.

Jonathan Dresner - 11/16/2004

Aren't there penalties, civil or criminal, for abuse of process that could be applied to this sort of spurious claim?

I don't think intellectual property laws are evil by definition, though I'm very afraid about the direction in which it is going. I think the process is flawed in that the penalties for abusing it are not commensurate with the harm done or with the gains made.

But then, I'm not a libertarian, either.