[A2k] Dharh, SA: University calls for intellectual property rethink

[Manon Ress]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
University calls for intellectual property rethink
http://www.infomaticsonline.co.uk/vnunet/news/2202275/kaust-cause-ip-
rethink

Use intellectual property to promote growth, not make money

Iain Thomson in Dharha, Saudi Arabia, vnunet.com 29 Oct 2007

Delegates at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
IT Summit have heard that the new university will be much more open
with its intellectual property than equivalent universities in the US.

The summit has been set up to design the university's policies from
the ground up, and to move towards more open standards that would
spur research, rather than locking it down for financial benefit.

"Our need to make an impact is greater than our need to get a revenue
stream, " said Dr Ibrahim Al Mishari, former chief information
officer at Saudi Aramco, the state oil company which is heavily
involved with the new university.

"The university will play a role in the new model for technology
transfer. Not for the advantage of the university, but for the
students and the region."

The approach was warmly welcomed by delegates. Most agreed that the
current system is in need of serious reform, and that opening up
intellectual property could have real benefits.

"One of the most spectacular examples of prosperity from intellectual
property is TCP/IP," said Dr Rob Pennington, chief information
officer at the University of Washington.

"Don't tie down your intellectual property to make a few dollars.
Instead focus on growing learning and the region."

There was widespread condemnation of the current intellectual
property system. One former academic explained that technologies
developed by his lab were patented by a major communications company.

But he could not take them on because the results would be
financially disastrous if he lost.


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Manon Anne Ress
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Il vaut mieux remuer une question, sans la d=E9cider, que la d=E9cider,
sans la remuer.
Pens=E9es, essais, maximes et correspondance de J. Joubert  p.249
http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=3DGallica&O=3DNUMM-88671
Translation: It is better to debate a question without settling it
than to settle a question without debating it