Friday, February 03, 2012

It's mine




The current rush is to own melodies, words, images, and algorithms.
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And even the code of life itself is a new enclosure movement.
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Much akin to the privatization of the village commons by the English Enclosure Acts of the 17th and 18th centuries.
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Words that were once public and available for all to use are now the property of corporations and other institutions.
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Unavailable to others for certain uses.
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"I'm lovin' it" is the property of the McDonalds Corporation, it has the exclusive right to a certain use of that phrase.
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"Make every drop count" is the property of Coca-cola.
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"Ideas for life" is the property of Panasonic.
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"Always" is the property of Wal-Mart.
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"Making life better" is the property of Penn State.
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You can still use these words for most purposes, but not as a slogan for your organization. .
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Nike has taken "Just do it." 
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Donald Trump has taken "You're fired!"
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These are but a few of the tens of thousands of common phrases that have been expropriated from the public language.
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Even the words "Love thy neighbor," which appear in both the Torah and the New Testament and lie at the foundation of moral philosophy, are now subject to ownership.
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In 2001 a Michigan jewelry merchant using "Love your neighbor" sued a Florida charity named "Love thy neighbor" for trademark infringement, claiming that the similar name confused customers and resulted in lost profits.
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The defendant said he was flabbergasted that it is possible to register rights to an expression that "has been around for 5,700 years."
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Legalisms aside, does the plaintiff really have a right to this phrase?
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Did he create it and invent the concept?
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Or has he merely cordoned off a part of the cultural commonwealth and claimed it for his own use and profit, solely on the justification of having thought of this first?
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Charles Eisenstein
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Yes in American law that is exactly what is being done.
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And no, there is no defence against this.
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Essentially everything on this planet is being monetised.
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Everything
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Air will be next.

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