From: jfe@alchemy.TN.Cornell.EDU (Brian Chung)
Subject: Re: Software copyrights
Organization: The Loyal Taxpayers Pub
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 03:46:17 GMT

In article <1k4s6sINN7op@emx.cc.utexas.edu> btlee@emx.cc.utexas.edu (Byungtae Lee) writes:
>I wish my name in this group does not mean any flame war again.
>It seems to me that there is a general concensus on software copyright 
>in this group. I guess it is partially because there are many c.s majors
>and obviously many computer-menias.    

	Perhaps, or maybe we are all just self-righteous bastards.  :)  I
for one, am not a CS major, but I consider myself a semi-creative person who
enjoys writing stuffs, be it a poetry, a short story, or a humourous
Usenet posting.  :)

>I'd like to ask your opinion regarding this.
>(1)  Considering Korean economy status, is it really beneficial 
>    to have severe protection on the knowledge properties? 
>    So far, R&D means in Korea imitating (or copying) R&D.

	First of all, I don't believe in a degree of protection.  You
either protect one's intellectual property, or you don't.  For example,
if you are writing a book, it should be illegal whether you copy one
page, one chapter or the whole book.  And it shouldn't matter if a big
company does it or an individual does it.

	Secondly, it is beneficial for us to protect intellectual property
because of our socio-economic status.  Our economy depends on having
access to big markets like the US, EC and Japan.  And as we all know, all
of these countries are willing to use the intellectual property issue,
among others, as a leverage in trade negotiations.  Do we risk losing our
MFN status in the US by insisting on not protecting intellectual property?
But more important than that, is the development of the domestic industry.
The computer industry in Korea is now beginning to develop thanks to some
very talented young programmers.  I believe AraeA Hangul was developed
as a school project, at first.  (Can someone check this fact?)  I don't
want to see these programmers giving up their day job because they can't
make money off writing quality programs.  And of course, this also applies
to writing books and songs.

>(2)  If yes, why did Korean government resist agaist it when USA demanded it?

	Because the Korean government was only looking a short-term
advantage of having cheap programs, cheap books and cheap records.  They
didn't think of the long-term benefits.  Protecting intellectual property
means protecting our domestic industry as well as the foreign industry.

>(3) How can we change our mind set regarding knowledge properties?
>   Traditional value system does not give much credit to any individual.
>   When I finsihed some books at my traditional old chinese-teaching school
>   (Seo-Dang), my grand mother prepared some cakes and wine for my teacher and
>    class mates. That's all what my family paid for my learning.
>   My late teacher (or principal of that school because he was only one teacher) believed that the truth belonged to the heaven not to any individual.
>   Therefore, according to him (them), we can not get any materialistic
>    benefits from what belongs to the heaven.  He was just happy because
>    he had still smart pupils while whole nation already abandoned that old
>    studies.

	Times, they are a-changin'.  When our grandparents were growing
up and going to school, there weren't any computer programmers, professional
authors and songwriters.  Now there are.  It is a simple matter of facing
the reality and letting people know that people don't write books and
computer programs for the sake of writing anymore.  Maybe there are very
few people who still do that, but most people expect to buy food with the
money they earned from selling their books, programs and records.
>
>[justification about copying some IBM software deleted]
   
>As long as they present the justification of investment which has been 
>developed in USA, I insisted the above logic.  Many patriotic(?)
>marekting representatives had to accept my reasoning. What do you think of it?
>Thanks for any opinion in advance.    

	Interesting logic, but would you say the same to a Korean software
company?  Perhaps you wouldn't, but remember, if everyone keeps insisting
on your logic, IBM will eventually pull out of Korea for lack of profit, and
those patriotic marketing representatives, along with many others who work
for IBM Korea, will lose their job.  Are you going to hire them?

-- 
T. H. Brian Chung               | Happiness is...
jfe@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu      | "Tea, Earl Grey, hot."
jfe@cornella.bitnet             | 210 Lake St. Apt. 11-A
CESR10::THC                     | Ithaca, NY 14850
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean