1.1 --- a/org/patents.org	Mon Apr 01 15:14:51 2013 +0000
     1.2 +++ b/org/patents.org	Mon Apr 01 15:47:39 2013 +0000
     1.3 @@ -17,11 +17,68 @@
     1.4    work, reading your work, or creating derivitave works based on your
     1.5    work. 
     1.6  
     1.7 -
     1.8 +  Thus, copyright is what I call a "negative force". It is something
     1.9 +  that you use to prevent the flow of information; it lets you remove
    1.10 +  the abilities of other people to use "your" information.
    1.11 +  
    1.12  * GPL uses copyright as a positive force
    1.13  
    1.14 -* Patents generally an inhibitive force.
    1.15 +  The genius of the GPL license is that it takes the negative force of
    1.16 +  copyright and turns it on its head. With the GPL, copyright can be
    1.17 +  used to enable freedom, and ensure peoples' rights to freely use
    1.18 +  your information. The GPL essentially reads:
    1.19  
    1.20 +  #+begin_quote
    1.21 +  This work is copyrighted, but by recieving this work you gain the
    1.22 +  rights to distribute, copy, and make derivitave works based on this
    1.23 +  work, but only if you also license such work under this license.
    1.24 +  #+end_quote
    1.25 +
    1.26 +  The requirement for using the GPL in derivative works makes the GPL
    1.27 +  "infectious", which means the GPL will "contaminate" all derivative
    1.28 +  works with itself. This ensures that even after many many
    1.29 +  alterations, the modified work will still respect its users'
    1.30 +  freedoms the same as the original work.
    1.31 +
    1.32 +* Patents, like copyright, are normally a negative force
    1.33 +
    1.34 +  Patents, unlike copyright, are something you must request from the
    1.35 +  government. You are only supposed to be able to get a patent for a
    1.36 +  "novel" idea, which is an idea that wouldn't be obvious to someone
    1.37 +  working in the relevant field. A patent can be for the plans to a
    1.38 +  physical object ("regular" patents), an algorithm (software patent),
    1.39 +  of a way of doing something (process patent). Once you have a
    1.40 +  patent, it gives you the ability to stop anyone else from using your
    1.41 +  idea in any other invention. This is supposed to give you a
    1.42 +  temporary monopoly to help you make money off your invention before
    1.43 +  anyone else would be legally allowed to do so.  In practce, many
    1.44 +  patents are given for ideas that are quite obvious to pretty much
    1.45 +  everyone. For example, Amazon has a patent (#[[http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F5715399][5,715,399]]) on the idea
    1.46 +  of presenting a coustomer with the last four digits of a credit card
    1.47 +  instead of displaying the entire numbner. Amazon can sue any other
    1.48 +  company that displays only the last four digits of a credit card
    1.49 +  number and prevent them from using that method unless they pay
    1.50 +  Amazon a lot of money. Needless to say, there are many patents that
    1.51 +  are very silly.
    1.52 +
    1.53 +  Now, I choose a particurally silly patent, but the point is that
    1.54 +  patents can be a great force for the retardation of progress. Many
    1.55 +  silly patents have been issued, and a patent lasts for 17 years. For
    1.56 +  almost any idea, there will be some patent that will cover your
    1.57 +  idea, and then the entity that owns that patent can prevent you from
    1.58 +  selling products based on that idea /or even giving products based
    1.59 +  on that idea away for free/.
    1.60 +
    1.61 +  ** Patents are treated as physical objects
    1.62 +  They can be sold, seized, etc. This is because the government wants
    1.63 +  new inventions to actually be made available to the public. The idea
    1.64 +  here is that if you are an inventor and you obtain a patent on a
    1.65 +  cool invention, but are unable/unwilling to develop an commercial
    1.66 +  product, you can sell that patent to some company and give them the
    1.67 +  exclusive rights to make that invention.
    1.68 +
    1.69 +  ** Patents are arranged in a dependency network
    1.70 +  
    1.71    Patents are usually a negative force, one that allows you to stop
    1.72    other entities from using knowledge to their own advantage.
    1.73