Copyright and Patent Reform

The music, movie, and software industries have done themselves and the world a grave disservice by attempting to sue and criminalize file sharing out of existence. Some biotech corporations have used the patenting of genes and genetically modified strains of crop to create monopolies in the farming industry, and they have been suing small farms into bankruptcy with allegations of ‘crop piracy’ when their fields get contaminated with GMO seed. Americans shouldn’t have to put up with corporate extortion; it is time for this nonsense to end.

My reform initiative would ideally do the following:

1. Criminalize the abusive legal tactic of threatening to sue / suing citizens and then offering to settle out of court for a certain sum of money. This is extortion and should be treated as such.

2. Require all consumer goods containing Digital Rights Management technology to advertise its presence prominently and include a booklet with detailed information, such as the purpose of the DRM technology and how it affects product capabilities and interaction with other products / software, in all product packaging. Furthermore, DRM presence must be clearly mentioned in any advertisements, and in print advertisements, it must be explained in the same manner that pharmaceutical advertisements must provide detailed information of the drug they are advertising. This legislation would also require that consumers be verbally informed of the presence of DRM in a product before purchase.

3. Prohibit the installation of trusted computing technology in consumer goods. Such technology would be permitted for the corporate sector upon obtaining a trusted computing license which would require each computer to be registered.

4. Pass legislation that explicitly declares file sharing as a legal activity and prohibits legal action against file sharing entities provided that those entities follow certain guidelines. These guidelines are certainly up for discussion; right now I have none in mind that I feel very strongly about, and I certainly would welcome coherent suggestions from both ends of the spectrum.

5. Pass legislation prohibiting patents on all forms of life and revoking all existing patents that fall into this category.

6. Prohibit anyone other than the actual creator of a work from holding the copyright to that work or in any way asserting ownership of the work.

This is by no means final; let me hear what you think!