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--></style><title>RE: [governance] Two outrageous stories of
so-called "inte</title></head><body>
<div>Perhaps it is useful to see IPR in the focus of a 'rights'
argument, but I think of it more with respect to development.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>It's possible that no one is going to care that Microsoft has
patented PgUp/PgDn, an I can't see Microsoft demanding royalties on
every keyboard with those keys and from every software program that
has such functionality, but such patents, an their corresponding
copyrights, erode the amount of knowledge an the degrees of freedom
available for education and development. It's not any one such
action that is serious, but the culture that encourages the
privatization, and the subsequent monetization, of intellectual
property that is corrosive and counterproductive in terms of the
public interest.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>George</div>
<div><br></div>
<div
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<span
></span>~~~~~~ </div>
<div><br></div>
<div>At 11:44 AM +0530 8/24/08, Parminder wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">> The two
patents APPROVED this month are described below..</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">Thanks George for this
information.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">></font> Then take action to demand a complete
overhaul of the patent system.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">Indeed, for overhaul of the complete intellectual
property 'right' system.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">This fits into the 'rights' debate we are having.
In fact, after discussing education as a positive right and cultural
rights and 'right to development' as collective rights, the next
issue I wanted to engage Milton was on the basis and meaning of
property rights</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">He seems to classify it as a basic and 'real'
right. To quote him " an extension of other basic rights, such as
property rights"</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">I don't think the way the notion of property today
is 'legally and systemically constructed' can be seen from within
the framework of negative rights. I mean a kind of 'this is my pile
of stones I collected, and is in my space, and you stick to your pile
in your space' kind of formulation. So that mere non-incursion
assures achieving of 'rights' which is the definition of negative
rights. Property rights are increasingly a framework of social and
political distribution of resources, attuned to some extent (and some
extent only) with individual's productive efforts, and need for
incentive for productive work.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">IPRs look even lesser like negative rights. In fact
the right of anyone to do whatever one wants with an idea one picks up
- without anyone else loosing that idea - looks more of a negative
right.. That would be some form of right to access knowledge. Strong
institutional structures preventing people from using ideas, which are
needed to safeguard IPR, looks quite a 'positive'
act.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">It is not enough to assert (if one does) that CS
doesn't give IPR the status of a right. IPR is becoming the basic
organizing principle of new economic relationships/ order- and
thereby social and political ones. Its claims are often taken to
supersede many other social and political priorities/ rights - like
the 'three strikes' rule for IPR violation - whereby there is a
move to allow even private parties - ISPs - to unilaterally act in
defense of such a 'right'. Even if such an action of safeguarding
IPR is to the detriment of other rights that access to Internet
enables (whereby a 'right to the Internet' itself may be
valid).</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">IPR definition and enforcement is becoming such an
over-arching political priority that it can definitely be considered
as a strong form of a 'right in practice'.. Fighting this
needs assertion of right to access knowledge as a stronger right. And
in terms of the digital environment, also an assertion of a 'right
to the Internet'.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">CS cant remain blind to these powerful forces, and
claims of 'rights' that underpin fundamental information society
changes, and keep sticking to some essentialist notions of
rights.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080">Parminder</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000080"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>
<hr size="2"></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Tahoma"
size="-1"><b>From:</b> George Sadowsky
[mailto:george.sadowsky@attglobal.net]<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, August 22, 2008 7:51 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> governance@lists.cpsr.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [governance] Two outrageous stories of so-called
"intellectual property protection"</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">The two
patents APPROVED this month are described below
below.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">It's truly
remarkable that such giants of of the information industry can make
such unbelievable leaps into the future.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">I first
thought that these were clever jokes. They are not. If you
don't believe them, check them in:</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite><x-tab>
</x-tab></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman">http://patft.uspto.gov/</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"
>http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOF<span
></span
>F&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=1&p=1&f=G<span
></span
>&l=50&d=PTXT&S1=7,407,089&OS=7,407,089&RS=7,407,<span
></span>089</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"
>http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOF<span
></span
>F&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G<span
></span
>&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=7,415,666&OS=7,415,666<span
></span>&RS=7,415,666</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">or just
Google the patent numbers for some interesting
commentary.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">Then take
action to demand a complete overhaul of the patent
system.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman">George</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<span
></span>~~~~~~~</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">AWARDED TO
IBM!</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000">On Tuesday,<b> IBM</b> was granted US Patent No.
7,407,089</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000"> for storing a preference for<b> paper</b> or<b>
plastic</b> grocery bags on customer cards and displaying a picture of
said preference after a card is scanned. The invention, Big Blue
explains, eliminates the 'unnecessary inconvenience for both the
customer and the cashier' that results when '<b>Paper</b> or<b>
Plastic</b>?' must be asked. The patent claims also cover affixing a
cute sticker of a<b> paper</b> or<b> plastic</b> bag to a customer
card to indicate packaging preferences.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">AWARDED TO
MICROSOFT!</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">United
States Patent <x-tab> </x-tab>7,415,666<br>
Sellers , et al.<x-tab>
</x-tab>August 19, 2008<br>
Method and system for navigating paginated content in page-based
increments<br>
<br>
Abstract</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">A method and
system in a document viewer for scrolling a substantially exact
increment in a document, such as one page, regardless of whether the
zoom is such that some, all or one page is currently being viewed. In
one implementation, pressing a Page Down or Page Up keyboard
key/button allows a user to begin at any starting vertical location
within a page, and navigate to that same location on the next or
previous page. For example, if a user is viewing a page starting in a
viewing area from the middle of that page and ending at the bottom, a
Page Down command will cause the next page to be shown in the viewing
area starting at the middle of the next page and ending at the bottom
of the next page. Similar behavior occurs when there is more than one
column of pages being displayed in a row.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Courier New"
size="-1">--</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000"
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<span
></span>~~</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000">George
Sadowsky <span
></span
> <span
></span>
george.sadowsky@gmail.com</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000">2182 Birch
Way <span
></span
> <span
></span>
george.sadowsky@attglobal.net</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000">Woodstock, VT
05091-8155 <span
></span>
http://www.georgesadowsky.org/</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000">tel:
+1.<u>802</u
>.457.3370 <span
></span
> <span
></span> GSM mobile:
+1.<u>202</u>.415.1933</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000">Voice mail & fax:
+1.<u>203</u>.547.6020 Grand
Central:
+1.<u>202</u
>.370.7734 <span
></span
> </font
></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000">SKYPE: sadowsky</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br>
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