Re: [Fsfe-uk] Re: Patented videoshop opens in Wales

[Marco Schulze]

Chris Croughton wrote:

> On Fri, Dec 05, 2003 at 07:14:57PM +0100, Marco Schulze wrote:
>
> > fileformats are like the alphabet: It's necessary to have open standards 
> > that everyone can use. Otherwise, we end up in the Celtic age > 2000 
> > years ago, when reading and writing were privileges of the priests!
> >    
> And not unlike the current situation with legal documents.
>  
>
> > The propriatery formats are pushed into the market by powerful 
> > monopolists. They establish a "secret language" and exclude everyone 
> > they want. That's creating a monopoly on information itself as they can 
> > decide who is allowed to read/write!
> >    
> Not quite: they allow anyone to read and write as long as they pay for
> the priest-class scribe.
>  
I'm pretty sure that there exists no law forcing the holder of a patent 
to allow others to use it. And even if there was such a law, it's still 
the decision of the patent holders, what price they demand. They can 
exclude everyone by adjusting the price. And there's no reason why they 
shouldn't define different prices depending on who wants to use the 
patent...

...but alone the fact to pay for the priest-class scribe is already 
barefaced!

[cut quotation]

Best regards, Marco.