<nettime> Demystifying intellectual property issues

[Holger Blasum <blasum {AT} muc.de>]

Geert has suggested that this audience might be interested in a contribution
I made to the Oekonux conference that was held at Dortmund in May.

"Demystifying intellectual property issues" 
The creation of IP rights in modern history can be portrayed as a very
   nice illustration of the influence of various pressure groups grazing
   the commons. This view invalidates the natural right theory of 
   intellectual property (IP) and leaves contract theory - however
   economists often found specific IP rights difficult to justify. A
   minimal alternative (trademarks only) and a moderate alternative
   (trademarks, industry-specific patents and short copyright) are
   discussed. Concluding are some speculations on the comparative neglect
   IP has received politically.

The URL is http://www.oekonux-konferenz.de/dokumentation/texte/blasum.html.

Many contributions to the conference on hardware, software, politics, science
and free software from a left-wing point of view (mostly in German) are 
trickling in at http://www.oekonux-konferenz.de/dokumentation/texte/index.html. 
Also in English: Graham Seaman, Free Hardware Design - Past, Present, Future
http://www.oekonux-konferenz.de/dokumentation/texte/seaman.html.

Regards, 

-- 
Holger Blasum <holger {AT} blasum.net>   pls sign http://petition.eurolinux.org
GnuPG 1024D/1CCA6604639C07F5146A    against software patents in Europe! 

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