From: Dave Thomas <Dave@...>
Date: 2006-01-27T16:21:55+09:00
Subject: Re: About rant on Dave Thomas site, titled 'imitation...'

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On Jan 25, 2006, at 9:48, Francis Hwang wrote:

> Ideas can't be copyrighted; only their expression can be copyrighted.
>
> If Pragmatic Press were to apply for intellectual property rights over
> their beta books program, the most likely protection would be for a
> patent. Not that they've done so--and given the prohibitive cost of
> obtaining a patent, and the likely backlash from their
> free-software-using customers over becoming yet another patent- 
> wielding
> company, and the fact that they likely find such patents personally
> distasteful, they're unlikely to do so.

The issue isn't folks copying, or who did what when.

For me, the issue is an industry that I value (from well before I did  
publishing myself) slowly dying through lack of innovation. When  
companies stop innovating, as an industry we stop growing.

My blog post came from a growing sense of frustration with an  
industry that seems to have lost its way. I don't want to see  
publishing houses I've grown up with going away.


Dave
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