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12.14.2004
Software Copyrights
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Greg Aharonian, patent expert, proprietor of bustpatents.com, and thumb-in-your-eye commentator, has filed a law suit charging that applying copyright to computer software is unconstitutional.
Neither the software industry nor the Copyright Office is happy with this suggestion, to put it mildly.
And the software companies are right to be concerned, because abolishing copyright by judicial fiat would be exceedingly unwise, given the huge superstructure of investment and institutional arrangements that have been premised on its existence.
However, context is important. Aharonian is by no means in favor of leaving IP unprotected. He has serious quarrels with the current administration of the patent system -- especially with the way it handles prior art -- and with some of the uncertainties of the copyright system. He would protect all art and entertainment, nor just software, with patents rather than copyrights.
Reading between the lines of his website on the case, his request that a court declare much of copyright law unconstitutional for vagueness is made with tongue firmly in cheek. But a law suit has one big advantage over the endless reports by learned commissions and journalistic moaning that characterize this topic -- people are forced to pay attention to a law suit because they never know what some crazy judges might do, especially out there in California.
Software is not in any immediate danger, though, so one can also see this glass as half full. Software companies, like many others, have been fretting about the law in this area for a time, so the suit may actually give them an opening to think about designing a better system for protecting software that would combine the best features of patent and copyright.
posted by James DeLong : 12/14/2004 03:18:19 PM
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