A Patent Mess

The current system of patents and copyrights is completely and utterly broken, and as such need to be abolished.

That's right folks, in this age of the Internet, digital media, rampant greed, and stifled creativity, we need to get rid of patents and copyrights completely and utterly. There is no fix, no repair, and certainly no tweak that can turn the current system into something even resembling fair or even usable, so I say we just get rid of both systems.

"But wait! What about people making copies of my work or using my ideas without my permission?" you say with paranoiac fear? "So what?" I reply with calm aplomb. The current system doesn't protect you from that happening. It only gives you recourse if it does happen and you find out about it. The real problem lies in the enforcement of the system and the abuses of the system:

• DRM - Digital Rights Management assumes that everyone is a crook who is out to steal music. Based on that assumption, the rights holders feel free to use whatever means necessary to stop that abuse including loading root-kits on computer hard drives and making it mandatory that users use "certain" players to play particular music (e.g. iTunes.) All these methods do is cheese-off the consumer which only exacerbates the problem of lack of sales.
• Patent Trolls - Patent trolls are companies that buy-up vague patents for the express purpose of enforcing outrageous licensing fees under the threat of patent court litigation. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, there are several hundred patents that cover e-commerce and surfing the Internet. That's right folks, you could be infringing on someones patent if you surf the Internet!
• Music Clearances - Let's say you want to use a certain piece of music as the lead-in to your podcast. Do you know how many different licenses you need to obtain from the copyright holders--performer, publisher, writer, lyricist, owners, etc.--before you can legally play the piece, even a short clip of it? The mind boggles at the complexity.

We just need to stop the insanity and this can only be done by getting rid of patents and copyrights. Writing, sculpture, and music are art and should be treated as such. Patents were originally designed to allow for innovation. Today, both concepts have been corrupted to the point where they are no longer recognizable. Congress needs to stop the insanity by abolishing both patents and copyrights. We need to pull the plug and we need to do it now.

Tags: patents, copyrights