Re: Conversion filters; intellecutal property

[Norman Bauman nbauman@xxxxxxxx]

Patents last (I think) 17 years. I can buy generic vise-grips in the
hardware store. My editor.exe file is from 1989, so if it were covered by a
patent, and we had the original patent term, it would enter public domain
in 2006.

I think a corporate copyright lasts for 70 years or 100 years, which
gradually increased from the original 17 years in the Constitution, most
recently as a result of lobbying and campaign contributions from companies
like Disney.

I can understand why the law follows the wishes of corporations who have
donated $30 million to political parties, but I don't understand why ethics
should follow their wishes.

Norman

At 10:30 AM 10/24/01 -0700, Ed Cray wrote:
>
>But even tools may be patented, to whit, the Vise-grip pliers. Would you
>deny the inventor his constitutional (Article I, Section 8) right?


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Norman Bauman
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