[A2k] IP-Watch: Golan Case May Put US In Violation Of International Copyright Treaties

[Jeffrey A. Williams]

Richard and all,

  Sorry I believe you are mistaken.  USPTO does involve itself,
and rightfully so with Copyright.  I don't agree that the USG should
fully withdraw from TRIPS or the WTO.  I do agree that it too often
seems that the USTR and the USPTO are not taking a strong enough
possition in the bahalf of the American public/user, and are far more
favoring the business private sector in their interaction with the
WTO in particular at the expense of the US Constitution and the
best interests of our hard fought and earned liberties and rights
accordingly.

Richard M Stallman wrote:

>       Well it looks like the USPTO and DOJ have stepped in it this time
>     around.
>
> As far as I know, the PTO has nothing to do with this.  It is
> concerned with patents, an (separately) with registered trademarks,
> but it has nothing at all to do with copyrights.  The term "IP" tends
> to lead people to expect these laws to be similar, but they aren't.
>
> The Supreme Court has ruled several times that it is unconstitutional
> to put something under copyright once it has fallen into the public
> domain.
>
> The US certainly should withdraw from TRIPES (Trade-Restricting
> Impediments to Production, Education and Science), and from the WTO as
> a whole.  Every country should do so, since the main effect of the WTO
> is to give the megacorporations more power and turn democracy into a
> sham.  But I think the US government is already so subservient to
> business that it will find some way (no matter how dishonest it may
> be) to disregard the constitution.

Regards,

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