Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Romain d'Alverny <aperio AT free.fr>]

Selon Scott Rubin <slr2777 AT cs.rit.edu>:

> But what if in my blog I write down a new idea I came up with. Say a truly
> original idea for a new product.

First, you are confused about copyright. It does not protect ideas. Neither 
does
patent law. Ideas are not to protected.
Copyright protects works, not ideas.
Patent law protects processes, not ideas - at least, should not, as a patent
should not be granted without a full working realization of the idea (it is
supposed to work this way in Europe, hope it is the same in the USA?).

And that would be fair. An idea is an idea. Does not help so much until it is
not put into practice. And guess what, most of the time, putting into practice
is what costs the most.

Or perhaps are you thinking of something more precise than an idea: if you 
have
details of specifications, it is not an idea anymore, it is almost a real
"thing", that you may protect either with copyright, either with a patent.

Second, you are confusing the meaning of 'original' and 'new'. 'Original' does
not mean it is new, great, or anything of this sort, it just means that it
comes from the person expressing the idea (the origin of this expression of
this idea).

What is protected, with the copyright, is not the 'new' thing, it is the fact
that it is coming from someone.

At least, that is my understanding. Here in France, that is the way law about
copyright is about. I may be wrong, but I would not be surprised that the
copyright would be about the same thing.

> I wouldn't care if they thought it up individually or even before I thought
> it up.

If it is "just" an idea (not a real detailed complex process with other
possibilities), you have no way to prove that they did not find it 
individually
without having knowledge of yours.

Regards.

romain.