<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div><span>+ 1 Frank., it is pertinent for OSGeo. <br></span></div><div>'Intellectual Property' and 'Open Source Software' do not go together.</div><div>It is important that we discuss these issues once in a while, for clarity of stand,</div><div>or is there a wiki link existing??<br></div><div>Ravi Kumar<br></div> <div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Frank Warmerdam <warmerdam@pobox.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> arnulf@osgeo.org <br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cc:</span></b> OSGeo Board <board@lists.osgeo.org> <br> <b><span style="font-weight:
bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, May 23, 2012 10:07 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Board] Definition of "IP" and "Intellectual Poverty"<br> </font> </div> <br>
Folks,<br><br>My opinion on this is that we ought to avoid use of the<br>term Intellectual Property in formal/official OSGeo<br>documents as their is a diversity of opinion on how<br>appropriate this term is, and that it's use may ultimately<br>be letting the enemies of open source frame the<br>conversation.<br><br>That said, I don't want to become language police (a loaded<br>term for Canadian's!) and spend a lot of effort and credibility<br>trying to change others. I'm afraid this would make us appear<br>strident in the same way that - for instance - the Free Software<br>Foundations fight to refer to Linux as GNU/Linux ultimately<br>diminished the FSF (imho at least).<br><br>Best regards,<br>Frank<br><br><br>On Wed, May 23, 2012 at 12:43 AM, Arnulf Christl <<a ymailto="mailto:arnulf@osgeo.org" href="mailto:arnulf@osgeo.org">arnulf@osgeo.org</a>> wrote:<br>> Board,<br>> we still do not seem to have a common position wrt to what
we<br>> understand by "IP" or "Intellectual Property". The shortest possible<br>> answer is no longer than 160 character [0] and reads:<br>><br>> Note: Software #patents are dangerous, hinder innovation, make<br>> monopolies. Never confuse with copyright or license. "IP" is a<br>> misnomer!<br>><br>> Therefore whenever there is no way to avoid using the term "IP" or<br>> "Intellectual Property" I put them in quotes.<br>><br>> Wikipedia [1] defines the term as covering:<br>><br>> * copyrights<br>> * trademarks<br>> * patents<br>> * industrial design rights<br>> * trade secrets<br>><br>> ...and adds "in some jurisdictions." For convenience some people then<br>> also add "licenses" to the mix and while we are at it NDA, CLA and so<br>> on. In a way these things are related and depend on each other but<br>> they are also distinct and in many cases contradict each other, more<br>> so
in different legislations. It should be apparent that mixing these<br>> concepts is not helpful to create clarity and this is why we should be<br>> very clear on what we mean by each individually and not lump them<br>> together. More thoughts by greater minds are also linked from<br>> Wikipedia [2].<br>><br>> Best regards,<br>> Arnulf<br>><br>> [0] <a href="https://twitter.com/sevenspatial/status/205184977963450370" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/sevenspatial/status/205184977963450370</a><br>> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_Property<br>> [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_Property#The_term_itself<br>><br>> --<br>> Arnulf Christl<br>> (OSGeo President)<br>> http://www.osgeo.org<br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Board mailing list<br>> <a ymailto="mailto:Board@lists.osgeo.org" href="mailto:Board@lists.osgeo.org">Board@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>>
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board<br><br><br><br>-- <br>---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------<br>I set the clouds in motion - turn up | Frank Warmerdam, <a ymailto="mailto:warmerdam@pobox.com" href="mailto:warmerdam@pobox.com">warmerdam@pobox.com</a><br>light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam<br>and watch the world go round - Rush | Geospatial Software Developer<br>_______________________________________________<br>Board mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Board@lists.osgeo.org" href="mailto:Board@lists.osgeo.org">Board@lists.osgeo.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board</a><br><br><br> </div> </div> </div></body></html>