The US Copyright Lobby has indicated that using FOSS equates to the undermining of intellectual property rights. Yes you read that correctly. They want the US Trade Representative to place countries like Brazil, India, and Indonesia on the Special 301 list, which is a list of countries that do not, according to mostly the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the IIPA, do enough to protect intellectual property rights.
The governments of the countries the IIPA wants to add have one thing in common: they’ve used or are encouraging the adoption of Free and open source software, which, according to the IIPA, “weakens the software industry” and “fails to build respect for intellectual property rights”. Huh? No I’m not making this up – take a look for yourself.
“The Indonesian government’s policy […] simply weakens the software industry and undermines its long-term competitiveness by creating an artificial preference for companies offering open source software and related services, even as it denies many legitimate companies access to the government market,” the IIPA states, “Rather than fostering a system that will allow users to benefit from the best solution available in the market, irrespective of the development model, it encourages a mindset that does not give due consideration to the value to intellectual creations.”
Since when has FOSS denied anyone anything, let alone legitimate companies’ access to the government market? And how is FOSS not an intellectual creation? Besides giving no proof of their statements, these murmurings are just plain fiction. Perhaps the US Copyright Lobby should stop spouting trash in the name of big business and do something for the man in the street for a change.
