Leftist stalwart (that's a compliment) Mother Jones has a list of intellectual property news items, in soundbite form, that serves as a reminder to how bad things have gotten. Here are a couple:
A DAY AFTER Senator Orrin Hatch said “destroying their machines” might be the only way to stop illegal downloaders, unlicensed software was discovered on his website.
NEARLY 20% of the 23,688 known human genes are patented in the United States. Private companies hold 63% of those patents.
AFTER ROSA PARKS sued OutKast for using her name as a song title, the group and their label settled by paying for a Parks tribute CD and TV special.
THE PUBLISHER of Super Hero Happy Hour removed “Super” from the comic book title after Marvel and DC Comics stated they own the phrase “super heroes and variations thereof.”
For more on the super-hero example, see the recent Boing Boing thread starting here.
Posted by johndanseven at March 21, 2006 04:32 PM