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The 1 child policy is probably a big issue but IP theft is partly how the US industrialized. The textile mills of the North that kicked off industrialization in
by babesh 6y ago
The 1 child policy is probably a big issue but IP theft is partly how the US industrialized. The textile mills of the North that kicked off industrialization in the US was based off of IP stolen from Britain. In fact, many of the practices that the Chinese are using were also used by the Americans: smuggling plans, hiring key employees, tariffs, etc.
https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2018/07/30/ip_theft_is_what_once_helped_make_america_great_103367.html# https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2018/07/30/ip_thef...!
http://web.mit.edu/heikki/www/antebellum_tariff_draft1.pdf http://web.mit.edu/heikki/www/antebellum_tariff_draft1.pdf
- fragmede 6y agoEven domestically, the reason Hollywood is the center of the film industry is because California was too far from the East coast for patents on moving picture cameras to be effectively enforced.
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y agoI thought it has more to do with weather, particularly ~300 sunny days per year.
- the_af 6y agoIt was a bit of both. I think I first read about this in Lessig's Free Culture [1], but even Wikipedia mentions some of this: somewhat ironically because of the MPAA's current heavy-handed tactics, Hollywood was founded on piracy and patents infringement. Some moviemakers moved West to explore new territories and climates (Wikipedia mentions D.W. Griffith) but others soon followed suit in order to avoid Edison's patents. It can be argued that Hollywood was made possible by people who broke the law [2] So Hollywood and the MPAA, who so aggressively pursue what they deem "IP infringement", have more than one skeleton in their closets. Bear this in mind whenever someone tells you -- as often witnessed here on HN -- "but without copyright there will be no writers" or "art isn't possible without IP laws". ---- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Culture_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Culture_(book) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_the_United_States#Rise_of_Hollywood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_the_United_States#Ri...
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago> "without copyright there will be no writers" Just recently had a bit of a good laugh about this. I decided to read Caesar's notes on Gallic wars, and downloaded some random .fb2 It turned out to be a preview fragment, which ended with a stern warning that it is illegal to break copyright laws and that this book can be legally purchased via provided link. I'm sure Gaius Julius is very happy with how these guys protect his interests.
- elmomle 6y agoThat's ostensibly for the translator (of course it's more for the publisher). You can get (typically Edwardian-era or earlier) public domain translations, or the original Latin, for free in lots of places.
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y agoI read it in russian, and I specially checked that russian translator died almost a hundred years ago.
- elmomle 6y agoAh, yes that was rather Anglocentric of me, apologies. And that's a lousy situation--any idea why that's the case?
- madeofmeat 6y agoThey have a public domain English translation free at gutenberg.org
- inglor_cz 6y ago"but without copyright there will be no writers" Well, without copyright, writers would find it hard to live off their work, but contemporary copyright has outgrown its usefulness and it wasn't writers who pushed for extensions. Let us get back to the original 14+14 model, but how, against a determined resistance of entrenched interests?
- jkepler 6y agoIsn't the underlying problem here the idea of Intellectual Property doesn't really correspond to real property? If I have an ax I use to provide lumber to our town and you steal it physically from me, that's theft. But if you see my ax, understand how it works, and make your own to also cut lumber, is that really theft? Or is it net beneficial to the town, as now people have more cut lumber to choose from and perhaps lower prices? However, if I lobby to get an IP law, how does that serve the community? It only protects me from competition.
- mpoteat 6y agoThe theory is that nobody will invest in e.g. researching how to build a complicated lumber cutting machine if they don't have protections against their competitor copying the results. Let's say this research costs 1 million dollars, and the company bankrolls this via a loan. They build it and are successful, and begin paying it off. Their competitor copies their idea, and exploits the fact that they have more capital and less debt to buy up more of the market, and end up the winner. So, under a zero protection scheme it is optimal to wait until your competitor invests in research, and then just steal it. Which is what happens on a geopolitical level where there is no feasible enforcement possible.
- kiba 6y agoSo, under a zero protection scheme it is optimal to wait until your competitor invests in research, and then just steal it. Which is what happens on a geopolitical level where there is no feasible enforcement possible. Is it such a bad thing? The United States did it in order to industrialize and I would say that's a good thing.
- mpoteat 6y agoCertainly depends on your utility function and the degree to which the ends justify the means. Is it good to steal from an apothecary to treat your ill wife? etc. The underlying issue with Pareto optimal scenarios like this is that we end up trapped in a local minima. I think in a particular case it's important to look at the context. For this, it likely depends on the scale, so in small town Georgiaville it would prevent innovation, but across the world scope its better* for ideas to be free. *given most mainstream progressive utility functions and non-zero-sum philosophies
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