荒謬的軟體專利權

台灣軟體業者開發的軟體，絕大部份都有違反智慧財產權的嫌疑。 這句話聽起來有點聳動，但絕不誇張；事實是，這句話即使把「台灣」兩個字拿掉，也都還是真實而正確的；只不過某些習於用美國人的角度思考而對台灣有點自卑的人，會比較不相信而已。

最近，藍色巨人IBM結束了長達四年的協商而正式向美國德州東區法院控告著名的亞馬遜網站侵犯了它的多項軟體專利權。好笑的是，這叫做大水沖倒龍王廟，亞 馬遜正是多年前申請「one-click shopping」軟體專利權，而於1999年控告它的主要競爭者邦諾書店侵權，以致引發了全球軟體界一場「軟體該不該用專利權保護」大論戰的主角。當時 的亞馬遜所主張的專利權，很有可能會窒息全球電子商業的發展，如今IBM以其人之道還治其身，十分有趣。

長年在美國價值的宣傳下，許多台灣人總以為智慧財產是個普世價值，是個基本權益；其實不然。知識是全人類共有的，不是任何人獨有的；這才是普世價值。當今 人類社會的發展，來自知識；不僅每一個人日常生活都在利用、分享別人的智慧，而且現今任何一種新知識的發現，也都需要運用到許多前人的智慧。所以，任何新 知識的出現，也是全人類應該共有的，不是新知識的提供者所可以獨佔的。

問題是，在當前的社會經濟結構下，知識常常不能直接拿來當飯吃，而許多有用的科技也都不是一、二個人可以獨力發明的，知識是需要被投資的。所以，知識要發 展，就需要鼓勵對知識的投資。而智慧財產權就是用來保護、鼓勵對知識的投資，其保護的方式，就是給予新知識在商業上的特殊利益。問題是，一方面有人得到商 業利益的保護，另一方面就必然會有更多人對於新知識的自由使用權被剝奪，這也將不利於新知識的應用與更多新知識的發明。所以，這就陷入了矛盾的狀態，也就 是，智慧財產權不能保障不足，但也不能被過度保護；智慧財產權的保障是個利益平衡的問題，不是個天賦人權、是非對錯的問題。

既然是個商業利益問題，在資本主義高度畸型發展的美國，當然智慧財產權問題就容易會被高度扭曲。不幸的是，美國自1970年代開始國內製造業大規模外移、 萎縮，貿易赤字驚人；美國經濟必須仰賴服務業的輸出以及研發的回收來平衡，這也代表著智慧財產權就是美國的國家商業利益，美國政府當然會迫不及待地要將它 自己畸型發展的美式智慧財產保護政策向全球輸出，而毫無還擊能力的台灣當然首當其衝。

弔詭的是，比其1970年以前，現在智慧財產權的保護恐怕應該更寬鬆，而不是更多、更嚴厲；問題在於平均知識水準的提升與資訊的容易取得。

在阿基米德乃至愛迪生的時代，從事研究的人口較少，而資訊的取得也是不易的。如果瓦特在發明蒸汽機之前就不幸病死了，人類許多知識的進展可能要延後好幾 年；但即便如此，瓦特也是得自他人的靈感才發展出合用的蒸汽機，沒有瓦特，蒸汽機照樣會被發明出來，只是時間問題而已。時至今日，因為資訊太容易取得了， 同一樣東西，可能同時會有許多組人馬同時花費了許多資金在進行開發；只是勝利者得到專利，但失敗者則得到極為嚴厲的懲罰。可怕的是，由於專利權被美國人弄 得太浮濫了，以致於現今任何較複雜的新發明、新產品，免不了都要碰上許多大大小小不同的專利，這種局面幾乎阻斷了許多中小企業開發新產品的動力。中小企業 是創新的最豐富來源，專利權的過度保護與浮濫，現在反而成了創新發明的最大阻力。

這叫專利地雷，大大小小的科技企業都會碰上。連著名的蘋果電腦公司，在申請iPod上知名的圓型觸控式播放面板的專利權時，都因IBM已經先送件申請了， 而被美國專利局駁回。雖然iPod的上市早於IBM的申請，但IBM申請專利時必然已經考慮到這一點，究竟誰才是領先的發明人目前還很難講，但未來的發展 必然也是十分詭異而有趣。同樣的，台灣廠商開發MP3播放器也比iPod早了許久，如果當時台灣廠商在開發過程中，能留下充足的時間證據，則恐怕台商今日 會有很多和MP3播放器相關的專利可以申請並拿來威脅別人。

軟體專利權的問題，比其它專利權更為嚴重。原因是，今日的軟體其實並不能只靠單一的創新想法而成為產品，而是要靠許多不同的機能、不同的零件堆砌起來的； 而這些機能常常是許多很自然的想法及概念轉換出來的，英雄所見略同，做出來的東西越來越像。但基本上，軟體的發展就是靠這種知識、技術的分享為動力。一但 軟體專利成為主流（事實上，現在已經隱然如此了），則軟體專利權一定會發展到寫任何軟體都會碰上專利權，就和做電子商務的必然都會碰到亞馬遜的「One- Click Shopping」以及IBM控告亞馬遜的廣告機能及超鏈結一樣；這樣一來軟體工程師將會在開發任何軟體時，都寸步難行；要先付一筆可觀的專利查詢費用及 授權費用，才可以寫程式。這很荒謬，但會是在美國強權以及其荒謬的智財權過度保護之下，必然的局面。

過去，台灣的中小企業不論是寫軟體或開發技術，都不喜歡寫計畫、寫文件、寫工作日誌，更不喜歡做程式控管、流程控管；以後隨著軟體及各式專利權的益形浮濫，這些壞毛病將會成為發展的最大致命傷。

source [數位時尚@live雜誌2006年11月號]

FindMeOn.com identity aggregator

New web service FindMeOn.com attempts to solve a very Web 2.0 problem: the dozens of social networking profiles, email addresses, blogs and other web service memberships you and your friends can’t keep track of.

If you’ve got a Flickr, MySpace, and Tribe profile and a Vox, LiveJournal and WordPress blog, and Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and .mac email address, sign up with FindMeOn to “claim” and gather all your identities into one place, and find your friends’ and which services they’re in, too.

FindMeOn is a new way to assert and verify ownership over online elements , identities and personalities. We empower you to verifiably extend your true identity across social networks and blogs, essentially creating an ad-hoc social network out of everything you join.

The FindMeOn preview isn’t very easy to use, but it’s a step towards solving a problem all of us has and it employs open standards to do so, which is a promising start in our book.

FindMeOn.com [via Waxy]

 

source [lifehacker.com]

Multi-functional stereo speaker dock from Brando

Picking a stereo speaker dock system can be tricky when you have a ton of gadgets and gizmos at your disposal, as you would most probably want one that can cater to most, if not all of your devices. Brando has seen that this need is fulfilled with the Multi-functional Dock Speakers that is compatible with a Sony Ericsson and Nokia cellphones, iPods of all kinds from the third generation upwards save the Shuffle, and even the beleaguered Sony PSP. This versatile speaker dock also doubles up as a charger for your various iPods and Sony Ericsson cellphone when plugged in. It looks pretty simple to operate, with an On/Off button and two volume controls. Are there any better alternatives out there for $58?

source [ubergizmo]

Prada ASUS S6F limited edition pink leather laptop

Almost a year ago several sites reported on a limited edition Prada notebook that was set to be released “sometime in 2006.” That time is soon as Cnet Asia has the confirmation that the notebooks will be available for the Christmas season. The $2,500 Asus S6F 3.3lb ultraportable is still available with tricked out leather lid and palmrests in light and dark cowhide; but Prada has outdone themselves by speccing a pink leather for their limited release of 50 machines.

On initial release the light cowhide version of the S6F was well accepted by most, and extremely well received by some. Most reviewers admit that the $400 leather upgrade package is mainly for impressing collegues, and expressed common concerns over how the leather would weather daily wear and tear.

The hardware specs on the S6F are respectable for an ultraportable machine. The glass is an 11.1″ WXGA widescreen display at 1366×768 running off an onboard Intel 950. The processor is a 1.66 GHz Core Duo with a ceiling of two gigs of DDR2 RAM. Other amenities include a 120 gig hard drive, a DVD burner, integrated wifi, gigabit ethernet, and a 4-in-1 memory card reader. The laptop weighs a little over three pounds, but the downside is that battery life is only a shade over two hours.

source [popgadget]

Sony VAIO G Notebook

 

Oh sweet, sweet VAIO G… welcome. Weighing just 898-grams / 1.98-pounds, and sporting the same hard angles (new trend, Sony?) seen in their top-end projectors, this stealthy laptop features a 12.1-inch, 1024×768 display, a choice Celeron or Core Solo 1.06GHz U1300 or 1.2GHz U1400 processors, integrated Intel 945GMS Express graphics, up to 80GB of disk and 1.5GB memory, 6-hour battery, fingerprint reader, 802.11a/b/g WiFi and Bluetooth, and the usual array of in and outs including USB 2.0, a multi-format memory card and PCMCIA slot. A version sporting a dual-layer DVD burner and 6-cell battery sporting a 12.5-magical-hours capacity is also available but bumps the weight to a still feathery 1,145-grams / 2.52-pounds. And it’s all packed into a tough carbon shell measuring 277 × 215 × 23.5~25.5-mm / 10.9 × 8.5 × 0.9~1.0-inches. Available starting December 2 in Japan for ¥215,000 (about $1,836) on up to ¥245,000 (about $2,093) full equipped. Hoozah!

source [engadget]

Mercedes-Benz GL450

Motor Tend Magazine named the Mercedes-Benz GL450 as its sport utility vehicle of the year for 2007

Teaching & Learning

 

We Learn…

10%…of What We Read
20%…of What We Hear
30%…of What We See
50%…of What We See and Hear
70%…of What We Discuss With Others
80%…of What We Experience Personally
95%…of What We Teach Others

– William Glasser

Scrybe - Amazing online organizer

If the actual product is anything like the video on the home page (and on youtube), this will scoop up and slaughter the current set of online personal organization and tracking systems. Very well thought out, works offline, prints to a useable, portable format and works with firefox.

Scrybe video demo

source [digg]

Ambient Clock

Yes, we’ve seen the projection clock, the pong clock and the venerable atomic clock, but leave it to our pals at Ambient Devices to come up with a way to combine a chronometer with a glanceable display, not unlike their previous orb and analog dial panel. Assuming that you keep your schedule in Google Calendar (and really, who doesn’t these days?), you can link it up the Ambient Clock (via Ambient’s “nationwide wireless network”) to find out what your schedule is. Meaning, a quick glance will help determine when you have scheduled events (the block rectangles on the clock) and the clock itself will change color if you have an upcoming appointment. As of right now the Ambient Clock isn’t actually in production, although there is an online beta so you can get a feel for the features and help the engineers decide certain aspects of the build. Still, we’re not convinced that this will revolutionize time management, but if you have a penchant for post-modern analog clocks, then maybe you’ll appreciate it.

source [engadget]

My Dream App winners announced

We haven’t been following the My Dream App contest as closely as our pals at TUAW, so in case you’re not up to speed, here’s the scoop: My Dream App is an “event where 24 finalists compete for a chance to have their dream app made into reality.” At the contest’s outset, people from all over the world submitted their ideas for the program of their dreams, and from those people a pool of 24 contestants was assembled by a panel of judges. Then those 24 were whittled away over five rounds by judges, many of whom could be called celebrities, like Steve Wozniak, Leo Laporte, Kevin Rose, J. Allard, and Merlin Mann. Yesterday the final eliminations were made and the three finalists, whose ideas will be made into Mac apps, and who will get royalties on said apps, were revealed. The three winners and their dream apps were:

3rd Place: Michael Yuan - Cookbook. “The ultimate cookbook application, with online grocery shopping, thousands of recipes, Leopard voiceover technology integration, shopping list sharing, and more.”

2nd Place: Farzad Sadjadi - Portal. “File syncing from the future. Sync folders and documents between Macs effortlessly and watch transfer progress through a cool, highly visual wormhole user interface.”

1st Place: Cameron Westland - Atmosphere. “A virtual window to the outdoors for your desktop. View a virtual representation of your area’s weather when too busy to go outside.”

All of the the runners-up are also worth checking out (especially if you’re looking for ideas for your next app), and all of the finalists and runners-up will be getting some pretty cool prizes.

source [downloadsquad]