[A2k] IPBlog (Tom Giovanetti): The Big IP Skeptic Lovefest Is Coming

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

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> http://www.ipblog.org/blog/IPBlog.nsf/dx/preaching-to-the-ip-skeptic-
> choir
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> The Big IP Skeptic Lovefest Is Coming
>
> Wednesday 5th April, 2006
> Later this month there's going to be a big group hug for all the folks
> who think that intellectual property protection is a club wielded by
> evil corporations and evil capitalist countries to destroy innovation
> and to keep people poor.
>
> It's called the A2K conference, and it's being held at prestigious
> Yale University. It's funded by the usual suspects, and it will also
> be programmed and attended by the usual suspects.
>
> There will almost certainly be commemorative tee shirts, buttons, and
> bumper stickers.
>
> Expect to hear lots of bashing of people who actually create and
> innovate things. See, it turns out that they are the bad guys. Those
> of you who go to work every day trying to create new and useful
> things, like medicines, and entertainment, and technological devices
> and equipment--you're the bad guys.
>
> Expect to see lots of laptops running Linux, Free Software nametag
> lanyards, "A2K Now" tee shirts and other shallow symbolism of the Free
> Culture movement.
>
> But beyond the symbolism, during the conference, speakers will
> undoubtedly be using microphones, amplifiers, projectors, computers,
> network cards and wireless access points that were all developed by
> innovator companies and are all protected by intellectual property.
> Some will be wearing designer clothing protected by trademark. In
> fact, if past is prologue, even their A2K tee shirts will be covered
> by at least one form of intellectual property.
>
> Some of their clothing may actually be made with patented textiles,
> and if they're wearing shoes by Reebok, Nike, Adidas, Puma or New
> Balance, the soles of their shoes will contain patented technologies,
> as well as the trademarks covering the brands.
>
> They will fly in airplanes covered by thousands of patents. They will
> watch a DVD that was created through the copyright system, or they'll
> listen to copyright-developed music through their patent-developed
> iPods. They'll use patent-developed cell phones to arrange little side
> discussions about how much they hate intellectual property.
>
> They will arrive in automobiles, probably a lot of Toyota Priuses
> (sp?), covered by scores and scores of patents. Their cab fare will be
> computed by a meter developed through intellectual property.They'll be
> wearing contact lenses covered by patents, though some of them may
> well have had Lasik surgery, which is performed by laser equipment
> that was developed and protected by patent. Equipment certified by the
> very same FDA that they will accuse of being in league with
> pharmaceutical companies to invent the counterfeit pharmaceuticals
> crisis.
>
> Their conference agendas and notes will be printed on printers
> developed and protected by patents, whether printed in-house on laser
> printers, or printed on a 4-color or web press.
>
> During breaks, they will relieve themselves in plumbing fixtures
> covered by trademarks and patents. They will use soaps to wash their
> hands and faces (hopefully) that are covered by trademarks, and in
> some cases that contain patented technologies.They will refresh
> themselves with beverages covered by trademarks, trade secrets, and
> patents.
>
> Some lucky attendees may be kept alive during the conference by
> pacemakers, which were developed and protected by patent.  Some even
> luckier attendees cursed by epilepsy may be able to get through the
> entire conference with the aid of technological implants or
> pharmaceutical products, of course developed through the
> property-rights model of innovation.
>
> No doubt some during the conference will be having their cholesterol
> reduced, their aches relieved, their diseases cured (or at least kept
> at bay), and even their erections enhanced, all by patented
> pharmaceuticals.
>
>     In fact, I know some of the panelists, and I strongly suspect that
> the only things keeping them clothed and in their right minds are
> pharmaceuticals.
>
>
> If it gets really boring at any point, some will pull out books to
> read which are protected by copyright and printed by patented
> printers. Or they'll point their Firefox browsers at some interesting
> news site or journalistic outlet, where the content produced is
> covered by copyright.
>
> After the conference, they will go out and drink adult beverages
> covered by trademarks. They'll sit on barstools protected by trademark
> and sometimes patents, and the ice in their drinks will come from an
> icemaker that was developed through the property-rights system of
> innovation, and is protected by one or more patents. The fountain
> machine that dispenses their drinks is patented. The little napkins
> they'll use to absorb condensation will have little trademarks on them
> somewhere. The little plastic swords that pierces their olives will
> probably have microscopic TMs on them somewhere.
>
> What would REALLY be interesting would be an A2K conference which
> banned any and all aid from products developed through property
> rights. I'd love to see that. But I couldn't, because I couldn't see
> without my contact lenses, and I couldn't listen via telephone or
> watch a webconference. Both would be impossible if all products of
> intellectual property were banned.
>
> Hypocrites. Bloody hypocrites. Using intellectual property thousands
> of times a day, using IP to bash IP.
>
>
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