[Noisebridge-discuss] Just say no to SOPA

[Stefano Maffulli]

On Sun, Jan 15, 2012 at 11:52 AM, Wladyslaw Zbikowski <
embeddedlinuxguy at gmail.com> wrote:

> Guys, I think fair use and knock-off handbags are orthogonal to SOPA.
> SOPA specifies remedies against copyright infringers. By definition
> fair use is not infringement. Selling fake Porsche sweatshirts is
> illegal under trademark laws, not copyright. Open source hardware and
> software "knockoffs" are addressed by patent law, if at all.
>

I'd be very careful before throwing patent law in the mix: somebody may
think it's a good idea to make it a felony to infringe on somebody's
patents and ... wait, too late http://action.ffii.org/acta/DCtext


> On an unrelated note I read that RMS once had an idea to create viral
> free software by using patent grants instead of copyright licenses.
> Can anyone corroborate that?
>

Never heard of such thing. And knowing RMS I find it very unlikely that he
may have thought that the patent system can be hacked the same way he
hacked the copyright laws.

/stef
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