...and IMVU-Forterra Word Balloon battle outcome (ref Farmer)

Terra Novans, related to the Worlds.com patent story below, I thought you might be interested in Randy Farmer's blog posting today on the IMVU-Forterra "word balloon" patent lawsuit which came to a messy conclusion last year after a 2 year drama (and a full patent reexam by the USPTO). Both Randy and I worked on this case. All the documents were made public due to the reexam.

Direct URL:
http://thefarmers.org/Habitat/2008/12/the_demise_of_the_word_balloon_1.html

This case as well as the Worlds.com move are representative the sorry state of the IP/patent system and reflect the  "corrupted" nature of business, government and general bad behavior throughout today's society (for which we are finally starting to pay the price).

Sigh... hoping for change in '009.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Randy!

Bruce

Comments

[WRGeorge]

1.

ß âàì î÷åíü áëàãîäàðåí, ìíå ïîíðàâèëîñü.

[WRGeorge]

2.

Corporations should not be allowed to protect any ip at all. That is, unless we say its ok.

[dmx]

3.

"Corporations should not be allowed to protect any ip at all. That is, unless we say its ok."

I actually agree, but we don't set the example well, when we embed the notion of IP into the very fabrics of our universe.

I suspect a few people have considered me a bit of a troublemaker , or god forbid, goon troll, on this point, but I genuinely despise the Second Life model of intellectual property mostly because Second life has become the standard bearer thats other worlds will be judged on.

Now by my reckoning, virtual reality holds the promise of total freedom. That is final , unlimited, anti-authoritarian freedom, if we let it. And by freedom, I mean it with a black flag.

So chaining a monetary and intellectual property system to that promise seems like a cruel hijack of a liberty potential with one of the most un-liberating aspects of the real world, capital..

Anyway, rant rant...

Folks should have a read of Richard Stallmans "Right to Read", if they get a few spare mins. I actually think Stallman is one of the best layman liberal thinkers of our time for his interesting take on intellectual freedom and the solution GPL as a sort of social contract.