Got this one off one of my favorite um, hydrophobic, right-wing lists. Actually, I *like* the idea of adopting the Japanese model, a patent system which was designed from the gitgo to strip technology from the original patentholders and accellerate its transfer to people who could implement it faster. Evolution in action, and all that. Of course, I expect that, <duck> geodesic markets </duck> will reward people who come up with new stuff -- and not people who control old stuff -- by exponentially depreciating old information as fast as it's created. "Piracy" being the most efficient form of information transfer on a ubiquitous network, and, with so-called watermarking, cryptolopes, etc., only being able to tell you who your copy was "pirated" from, the first copy of anything will be auctioned off dear, and subsequent copies will be sold dear in radiating secondary markets. Jason Cronk just wrote a paper on this, based on his rump-session talk at FC97. I don't have the URL handy, but his email address is <mailto:rjasonc@purple.reddesign.com>. Cheers, Bob Hettinga --- begin forwarded text Resent-Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 15:12:56 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: NS1.Content.Net: byxbe set sender to rightnow-request@MailList.Net using -f X-Sender: eagle@accessus.net (Unverified) Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 11:58:35 -0500 To: eagle@eagleforum.org From: Eagle Forum <eagle@eagleforum.org> Subject: Patent Giveaway Bill - House vote could be week of April 14th Mime-Version: 1.0 Resent-From: rightnow@MailList.Net X-Mailing-List: <rightnow@MailList.Net> archive/latest/116 X-Loop: rightnow@MailList.Net Precedence: list Resent-Sender: rightnow-request@MailList.Net PATENT GIVEAWAY BILL House vote could be week of April 14th April 11, 1997 Phone or fax your Congressman (202) 225-3121 and urge him to vote NO on H.R. 400, which is misnamed the Patent Improvement Act but should be called the Patent Giveaway bill or the Ron Brown Sellout Legacy. This bill would write into law Ron Brown's Commerce Department news release of August 16, 1994, which promised the Japanese that we will change our patent law to acquiesce in the demands made by the Japan Patent Association in its written statement of September 1993 (which called our patent system "unsatisfactory" and demanded changes). That statement is impudent and insulting to Americans. H.R. 400 would transform the U.S. Patent Office into a private corporation that could accept bribes for the issuing of patents. Of course, the bill doesn't use the nasty word bribes; it just says that the Patent Office "may accept monetary gifts or donations of services, or of real, personal, or mixed property, in order to carry out the functions of the Office." With all the recent scandals about Asian money used to influence U.S. policy, this would be a terrible mistake. The entire text of H.R. 400 is a sellout to the Japanese demands. This bill would order all patent applications to be made public 18 months after the application is filed, whether or not the inventor has yet been granted a patent. This dramatic change from our traditional treatment of patents would be a grievous injustice to the individual inventor because it would allow foreigners and multinationals to use their enormous resources to steal the inventor's idea and beat him into production. H.R. 400 would loosen up the "reexamination" of U.S. patents already issued and allow foreign and domestic corporations to participate in the process after paying a "reexamination fee." H.R. 400 even specifies that the board of directors of the new private patent office shall include persons "with substantial background and achievement in corporate finance and management." That puts the multinationals in the driver's seat to ride roughshod over the rights of individual inventors. Instead of ratifying the Ron Brown sellout deal, Congress should stand up for one of our most important constitutional rights - the right of inventors to have, for limited times, "the exclusive right to their . . . discoveries." This unique provision in the U.S. Constitution (Article 1, Section 8) marked a profound turning point in world history; it started the marvelous series of American inventions that have raised our standard of living and built America into an industrial super power. H.R. 400 invites Asian money to diminish a precious American constitutional right. It is a scandal that Congress cannot afford to be involved in. Vote NO on H.R. 400. See our sample letter to Congress: http://www.eagleforum.org/conglet/1997/patents.html ============================================ EAGLE FORUM PO Box 618 Alton, IL 62002 Phone: 618-462-5415 Fax: 618-462-8909 Are you on our E-mail list? Just send us an e-mail message with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line! Tell a friend about us! URL: http://www.eagleforum.org E-mail: eagle@eagleforum.org ============================================ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= To unsubscribe from this mailing list, DISREGARD ANY INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE and go to the Web page at http://www.maillist.net/rightnow.html. New subscriptions can also be entered at this page. If you cannot access the World Wide Web, send an e-mail message to RightNow-Request@MailList.Net and on the SUBJECT LINE put the single word: unsubscribe --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA Lesley Stahl: "You mean *anyone* can set up a web site and compete with the New York Times?" Andrew Kantor: "Yes." Stahl: "Isn't that dangerous?" The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/