For those who weren't able to attend our Digital Europe events in Milan and Brussels, we've posted some photos from our conferences online.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 5:13 PM | Digital Europe

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In Milan, Professor Pascal Salin of the Universite Paris Dauphine delivered a challenging talk going to the fundamentals of intellectual property--asking, in effect, how can one in principle support IP at all? For it conflicts with physical property rights; it raises the troubling question of rights in ideas. He suggested in closing that protection for innovation could be established by contract, by being first-to-market, or other practices. Other IP scholars on the free-market side have from time to time raised similar fundamental arguments with the whole idea of IP.

It is possible, of course, to endlessly philosophize about this subject, and, believe me, I would do so if given the slightest encouragement... One way to slice this Gordian knot is by thinking about practicalities. What would it mean, in practice, for contract to substitute for intellectual property?

Continue reading Radical Ideas Reviewed: Can Contracts Substitute for IP? . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 1:05 PM | Digital Europe , General

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Following discussion of software patents in Milan, someone (I wish I could recollect who, but it might have been my colleague Jim Delong) made the point that part of the impetus behind patenting software in Europe came from the desire that code be "opened up." In the past, code kept under wraps would qualify for trade secret protection, but open code (obviously) does not.

I thought this well worth noting.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:27 AM | Digital Europe , Patents , Software

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Our partner for the recent events in Brussels was the Centre for the New Europe, which runs a regularly-updated blog on IP that is well-worth checking out.

posted by James DeLong @ 8:58 AM | Digital Europe

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It appears that years of work in the EU on adopting a sensible approach to software patents will be thrown out and begun anew, according to an action taken here today in Brussels by the EU Conference of Presidents. While I face a steep learning curve on both patents and the byzantine nature of EU procedure, I want to relate my reaction to a press conference held by an alliance of radicals who stated fairly clearly their desire to never see software patented in Europe, even if it is obliged to do so under TRIPs. This EU issue has surfaced repeatedly during our time in Europe, highlighting the fortuitous timing of our presence.

Continue reading EU Patent Fight . . .

posted by Patrick Ross @ 11:43 AM | Digital Europe

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The following are my prepared remarks from Milan, offering a partial rebuttal of some of the arguments against software patents. Note that showing that software patents are actually helpful is a task to leave for another day... My actual talk tracked this substance closely but not exactly:

Continue reading Software Patents: Prepared Remarks from Milan . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 5:58 AM | Digital Europe , International , Patents , Software

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(Brussels): Some (many) Europeans refer to "the open source [software] community." A point we make in response is that we do not know exactly what that is, because we see four different groups, at least, involved in the FOSS movement.

1) Academicians, who want to invent code and circulate it freely for comment and improvement, and who do not want their creative efforts to be propertized by others. For this group, open source licenses make perfect sense. This is simply the principle of of free and open academic inquiry, as applied to research on software.

2) The New Millennium Collectivists/IP Socialists/Cargo Cultists (see past blogs for definitions), who want to de-propertize and de-marketize software, initially, and then all IP. This group is associated with Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation, Larry Lessig, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Continue reading The "Open Source Community" . . .

posted by James DeLong @ 5:08 AM | Digital Europe

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(From Brussels): (No links in this one -- the hotel charges $1 for each 6 minutes of connectivity, so I don't want to take the time to find them. But at least there is no queue to use the business center's single computer.)

Yesterday, Ray and I spoke at the CNE/PFF lunch for people associated with the European Parliament and other opinion leaders. The topic was interoperability, open standards, and open source software.

One illuminating incident occurred when I mentioned the more grandiose ideas of the U.S. Free Culture Movement -- its concept that FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) is a pilot program for other creative products, and that eventually all creativity should be distributed over the Internet for free, paid for by a government fund generated by taxes on hardware and connectivity.

The Europeans had not heard any of this, and at first they assumed that I was telling a joke. When they realized I wasn't, they were disbelieving -- how could anyone take such an idea seriously? (My sentiments exactly, of course.)

It was very interesting, because it means that the context of the discussion about FOSS is quite different on the two continents.

posted by James DeLong @ 4:54 AM | Digital Europe , Free Culture Movement

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Ray Gifford comments on the think tank scene in Europe.

posted by James DeLong @ 4:26 PM | Digital Europe

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On the PFF blog, Patrick wrote:

The Beatles apparently loved to stay at the Grand Duomo [in Milan], and listening to the high-pitched screams of Italian teens in the square, I thought maybe the Fab Four had returne.

Well, he should have come to Rome with us over the weekend. Just down from our hotel was a stained glass window of -- The Beatles. And next to it, one of Elvis.

Good to see the 20th century culture added to the two millennia jumble of central Rome. I wonder what Hadrian, or Pope Alexander VI, would have thought.

posted by James DeLong @ 4:02 PM | Digital Europe

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posted by James DeLong @ 3:50 PM | Digital Europe

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 7:50 AM | Digital Europe

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 7:40 AM | Digital Europe

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 7:25 AM | Digital Europe

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 7:20 AM | Digital Europe

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 7:15 AM | Digital Europe

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 7:10 AM | Digital Europe

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 7:05 AM | Digital Europe

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 7:00 AM | Digital Europe

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posted by Patrick Ross @ 8:39 PM | Digital Europe

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posted by James DeLong @ 10:00 AM | Digital Europe

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