My father has the same experience in the early 70’s. But he never gived them the whole solution, only a part.
The innovation was the car catalysator.

I’ve had my ideas stolen by big 3 automakers and never received a penny. Not one of my ideas was produced or implemented. Actually I was told that if I try to make, create or show anyone I’d have my balls cut off or have an accident. I took it as them being serious once I was wiped off the road a few times. I still carry a camera or video everywhere I go. And this is no joke.

Anyone who’s ever worked for an automaker can attest to signing a contract that they won’t divulge or reproduce anything for 10 yrs and won’t go into a similar field for 5 yrs. Situations vary but they have the same idea.

Copyright as it exists is like capitalism as it exists. Just as capitalism has failed so ha copyright laws. Both for the same reason. The capitalists and the copyright holders wholesale purchased the politicians and the judicial who in turned fixed and favored the capitalists and the copyright holders while turning against the people as a whole. Simplified, the laws have favored money over the vote.

Just as wall street type capitalists and bankers ruined the economy of the world and themselves in the process of getting too much of what they wanted (soft laws and no regulations) the same is happening to copyright holders (the grabbers, not the hapless creators). The copyright holders have also have gotten too much of what they wanted (no protection for the real creators and eternal copyright duration) and therein lies the seed of their destruction, as creators and customers turn away.

But the solution is not the elimination of capitalism or of copyright.

I have no doubt that some sort of capitalism will have to co exists with some sort of socialism just as some sort of moderate and limited copyrights are needed to coexist with the public domain.

As to copyright, a basic principle is that in order to promote the production of goods through the use of time and money people have saved, laws are required. No one will invest their money, for example, to make a movie if after the movie is made anyone can sell copies. That is, unless the move makers are financed with public or donated money (a real, if complicated, option). Also no one will invest their time to write a novel or a history book unless the work is protected by copyright. That is, unless the authors are financed with public or donated money (again, a real, if complicated, option).

The solutions are to fix broken economic, copyright, legal, political systems.

And the advanced economic countries should stop their imperial ways and stop teaching the less economically developed countries how to fix their systems (usually the advise is self serving) when their own systems are badly broken. And even of their systems are working perfectly, they should mind their own business.

In the end, each the people (not the politicians) of each country should decide how to run their economies and to have whatever copyright laws they want to have.

At home I am using the DMCA as toilet paper.

F.L.O.S.S FTW

Good article.

‘Fitch is researching and developing revenue mechanisms and business models for producers of digital art and in the process, “has discovered that copyright is not only an ineffective anachronism, but is unethical and unconstitutional“.’

Eircom a couple days ago bended to the 4 labels command, on blogs such as this people were telling Eircoms customers to move ISP, I would too.

Now, they will lose customers, and revenue but some ISPs are ignorant.

Try telling that to the Australian Government =@

they say ‘we loose xx billion dollars due to piracy every year’ No, you loose money because you keep fighting them, and all these lawsuits, and investigations

but we try to tell them