“States already take land and other property in order to benefit the public by building things such as roads and schools. Now some legislators and officials are saying they should be able to take away a drug company’s intellectual property, its patent.” – The American Prospect via Slashdot.
The TeleRead take: Zealots have tried to position copyrights as being eternal like land titles. But could this parallel haunt them in the end–even though copyright law isn’t the same as patent law? In the case of drugs, of course, government officials are POed over patent-enabled gouges, and as the Eyes on the Prize case shows, public opinion might eventually turn against Hollywood’s copyright equivalents. No miracles expected soon. But here’s a little hope that new political and legal tactics could be devised to cope with the damage from the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. With the threat of eminent domain actions, maybe Hollywood will be more open to compromises such as those advocated by Larry Lessig.
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