jbrocklin's Journal: IP

Okay, this is Intellectual property thing is just going too far. While reading through the SCO Sues IBM for Sharing Secrets with Unix and Linux article on News.com one particular line really stood out that bugged me:

"When they (IBM) started utilizing the same engineers that worked on the Unix System V source code and the ultimate derivative of it in the form of AIX, they have effectively been applying our methods and concepts, even if there isn't a single explicit line of code" that shows up in Linux.

So basically, "You can't even copy functionality of things that we own." Does this bother anyone else? I can't think of doing the same thing as someone else. To me, this is limiting the human mind! So linux and Unix are close, and they do things in many of teh same ways - and I could see the problem if there was EXPLICIT code usage from one to the other. But they're saying "I don't care if you used the same code or not, you're doing it the same way! Onto another point - who does SCO think they're messing with? If they had started taking on Red Hat first - THAT would make a little more sense. But no, they went and hired a big name layer (who is probably costing more than most IP lawsuits return), and haeding for IBM. Come on now - NO ONE knows IP/patent law better than the guys who put out more patents in a year than some countries have people!

Maybe I'll understand all of this better when I start putting out code/ideas that I don't want others to use...no, wait a second, I want to do research for a university. I want others to benefit from my work - I want to expand the realm of knowledge that humans have. DO I care about money? Well, yeah, I want to be able to provide for a future family, and not have to go scrounging for $$ when we need to eat. But greed shouldn't be the driving force behind new ideas. Maybe I'm just weird like that...

--Joe