Re: Abandoning property (Was: Copyright Extension Bill Passes Congress)

From: Dan L Burk <BURKDANL[_at_]shu.edu>
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 13:53:20 -0500

Moritz Roettinger <moritz.roettinger[_at_]dg23.cec.be> wrote:

>

> if there is no value so why should any (copyright) protection
> be harmful? Take the example of computer programmes which are
> protected for 70 years p.m.a. in Europe. This does not harm the
> further development although the programmes loose their value
> within few years.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding this comment -- if it actually means what it says, it appears to reflect an extremely niave view of how technological advances occur, especially in computer science. The programs almost certainly lose their value in a few *months* rather than a few years, but are nonetheless sequestered for another 69 years, during which developers could otherwise be learning from them, improving them, etc. In other words, it almost certainly harms further development.

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Dan L. Burk
Seton Hall University
burkdanl[_at_]shu.edu

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Received on Wed Nov 11 1998 - 18:54:29 GMT