Comment Private property? (Score 1) 235
Creative works must be allowed to be copyrighted, or anyone could copy War and Peace and sell it as his own. I think you're confusing copyrights (creative works) and patents (ideas) - I will agree with you that software patents are bad, bad, bad - but were talking about forcing a business to give up it's actual product, not some design technique. Were talking about stealing, plain and simple.
We'll just have to disagree as far as copyrights is concerned. I am fully aware of the differences between copyright and patents. I am not talking about the validity of either copyrights or patents, I believe that they have their place. However, I don't believe that they should be treated as "property". You believe that they should be.
That's a loaded question - using the word "public" in regards to the ownership of MS is a misnomer, even though it's done all the time - it is in fact a privately owned company. Just because a company has more than one owner, does make it "public". Microsoft is owned by all of those people who were inclined to purchase a piece of it's stock, not the public-at-large.
There are only two types of companies that I would consider truly private, as an extension of the individuals. All others are statutory, (creations of the government, which in turn is a creation of the "public"), and therefore are public. The two exceptions: Sole Proprietorships that are not incorporated, and general partnerships that don't enjoy the benefits of limited liabilty. I suppose that certian types of co-ops would also fit under this category. Again, we can simply disagree on these definitions if we want to.
We'll just have to disagree as far as copyrights is concerned. I am fully aware of the differences between copyright and patents. I am not talking about the validity of either copyrights or patents, I believe that they have their place. However, I don't believe that they should be treated as "property". You believe that they should be.
That's a loaded question - using the word "public" in regards to the ownership of MS is a misnomer, even though it's done all the time - it is in fact a privately owned company. Just because a company has more than one owner, does make it "public". Microsoft is owned by all of those people who were inclined to purchase a piece of it's stock, not the public-at-large.
There are only two types of companies that I would consider truly private, as an extension of the individuals. All others are statutory, (creations of the government, which in turn is a creation of the "public"), and therefore are public. The two exceptions: Sole Proprietorships that are not incorporated, and general partnerships that don't enjoy the benefits of limited liabilty. I suppose that certian types of co-ops would also fit under this category. Again, we can simply disagree on these definitions if we want to.
