Re: The Perils of Copyright

Subject:

Comments:
: : Here's a possibly interesting question: what are the various colonies' : : attitudes towards the concept of "intellectual property", AKA copyright : : and patent laws? It's an area of the law that currently (RL) is in flux, : : due to the advent of computer networks; therefore it's highly likely that : : (BIGV) the colonies have evolved very different legal codes governing it. : : Such differences are obviously a major concern for the Process, and for : : anyone proposing to transfer important ideas from one colony to another. : : They might also provide some interesting scenario hooks. : Definitely! : My take on it would be that Nova takes copyright very, very seriously. You are : your media image, and people mainly create information of various kinds - : hence copyright violations are theft of the worst kind. Using AI it might : even be possible to scan the net for violations, something that hampers RL : copyright enforcement. : Atlantis is another fairly clear case, they have practically no copyright : or patent system. This is mainly based on various rants I have overheard on : libertarian forums :-) The idea is that instead of preventing people from : copying stuff, just come up with new stuff faster so that yesterday's stuff : is obsolete. : I guess New America is somewhere in between. It is an information economy, : but not as extreme as Nova or as unrestricted as Atlantis. I don't really know : how intellectual property would be handled there (since it is so much like the : real world, where I'm also uncertain about how things ought to work). : Penglai is probably less strict than New America, unless the view has changed : due to the emergence of an information society. I think intellectual property : in a Chinese context is more based on authority and respect for past authors : than the western capitalist view, but I'm not certain how it would be expressed. : Arcadia is rather communitarian. I would imagine a more relaxed but credibility : based system, a bit like the open source community. You may copy things, but : pay the shareware fee or at least acknowledge the originator. Otherwise you : shame yourself and your hive. : Ridgewell and Dionysos might be something like this too, or a bit more like : the current system. : In Mary it is likely solved by simply assuming that everything belongs to the : community and should be managed by the relevant authorities :-) : Gaia and Negsoa doesn't have the problem at all. : And Traha... oh dear, Trahan intellectual property laws... I guess it is an : awfully complex question about law, propriety, economics and tradition that : requires a lengthy academic study. : : For example, let's assume a Nova citizen travels to another colony, and : : takes along an AI he owns personally, or one owned by a company he works : : for. What is the AI's legal status in the various colonies? And what : : happens to a copy of the AI, if it's created outside the Nova system? : Exactly. Themis has designs along these lines - when I ran the campaign, it : bought citizenship on Atlantis and went on to make quite a nice business : career. But I guess Nova companies would regard it as a foreign pirate version... : However, this mixes AI rights into the copyright problem too, making it a total : mess. Since there is nothing like the Berne treaty among the planets (although : a lawyer might make the case that the planets founded by national states should : be regarded as treaty members due to a grandfathering clause or something similar) : at the start of contact there is no system at all for deciding these things. : Even if some colonies try to set it up, some colonies might refuse (Atlantis : both lacks central government and has an ideological stance against it most likely). : All sorts of fun possibilities! : : Or assume a case of technological "theft" between colonies -- someone : : learns a useful technique on one colony, then goes to another and sets up : : a business around that technique. Would the inventor be able to assert a : : legal claim against this person? Could the "thief", contrariwise, lock : : out any subsequent importers of the technique? : I think that it depends on what system could be set up to deal with these : interstellar law matters. This is one of the big things for the Process and : other groups wanting to influence the human sphere to do - without some kind : of interstellar law things can quickly get out of hand.

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL: