Re:There Are No Good Arguments for Intellectual Property (2010)
by chalst on Friday April 16, 2021 @02:15AM
(#26830196)
I broadly agree, but various classes of IP law collide in an ugly way in software:
- the source code can be kept a trade secret and enjoy copyright protection at the same time
- the object code used to be unable to be hidden (+), but it derived copyright from being a derived work (via compilation) of the source
- the technology can be covered by patents. Since the object code is incomprehensible, there is no assurance that competitors will be able to figure out which patents it implements, so they become like legal landmines deterring innovation.
(+) With the advent of microservices, often no more.
- the source code can be kept a trade secret and enjoy copyright protection at the same time
- the object code used to be unable to be hidden (+), but it derived copyright from being a derived work (via compilation) of the source
- the technology can be covered by patents. Since the object code is incomprehensible, there is no assurance that competitors will be able to figure out which patents it implements, so they become like legal landmines deterring innovation.
(+) With the advent of microservices, often no more.