it a great deal over the past few years as I have played cat and mouse
with the "copy protection" and "digital rights management" in building a
home entertainment system. Since IP is somewhat generic, I feel that the
stand I take on such issues should apply equally to my work as to others.
It has only been in recent history that laws codifying intellectual
property have existed, and enforcement has been private for most of that
time. How is it that those who create intellectual property managed to
profit from their work for the millenia before? Performance and added
value. To provide value, the author performs the work for a benefactor,
the public, or other paying entity - customizing their efforts to the
needs and desires of the audience. We have created - through regulation
and law - a system where added value is not necessary, and the simple
act of creation is sufficient. Actors should act, singers should sing,
writers should perform talks, artists should create art, researchers
(already) do custom research, and engineers and architects solve
problems. Copies of those works are just that - copies, made by others
or the author, with no inherent added value. If you don't want to
release a speculative work, don't. There is no law that says you must
record a song, and there is no law that says if you choose to be a film
actor you must be paid a wage you feel is appropriate to your lifestyle.
As engineers, we don't create speculative works for multiple sale
(unlike Donald Gardner) - we create specific solutions for specific
problems and conditions. The value isn't in the lines on paper, or the
organization of those lines into drawings, but in the analysis and
creativity by which we take our "stock" components and assemble them
into a whole for a particular purpose. By necessity, the value of our
works was based on the written page - it was often the primary, if not
sole, means of communicating the design to the end user. We still place
inherent value on lines on paper. As anyone who has had a lead designer
leave before a project is complete, there is an enormous value in the
individuals who know far more about a job than can ever be put onto
paper. With modern communications, we can be far more connected to the
jobs - even half a world away. The paper is becoming less valuable, and
the human more.
Do I let my drawings get copied freely? In general, no. I'm certain they
do, though, get taken from place to place. My primary reason for
limiting distribution is liability, not intellectual property. Every
building is different, even if only in subtle ways. Provide valuable
service, and you'll get to worry less about the paperwork. All imho.
Jordan
>
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