Larry's Keynote

Larry's pissed.

In the next 20 years, 1 million patents will expire but 0 copyrights will. Congress broke their promise with the public and stole all these copyrights and gave them to their campaign donors. Where was Jack? Where were these ideals? Jack was on the hill, arguing for breaking the promise.

Can't say that I blame him...

Which brings me to something not entirely unrelated...I just picked up the Sports Night Complete Series on DVD. I'm a sucker for anythign Sorkin. What can I say? Anyway, episode 4 is called "Intellectual Property." One of the anchors gets in trouble with the lawyers because he sang "Happy Birthday" to his partner on the air. The network got a bill for $2,500. He vowed from that point on to only sing songs in the public domain on the air. "That will teach them," was the lawyer's reply.

For full disclosure, Sports Night ran on ABC, which is owned by Disney and the DVD set is distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, also a Disney property.