Intellectual Property
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Confederacy Policy on Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property, including copyright are protected by Confederacy policy and forms part of the informal body of law in the Confederacy.
Earth copyrighted material
The AIs can deny the reproduction of copyrighted material, and apparently have a great concern about such. This is difficult to manage in the so-called "post-scarcity economy" where payment of royalties in such a cash-less society would be difficult. Most of the AI intellectual property concerns tend to involve music, recordings of performances, movies and other media.
In Ending This Mess Zen Master described a situation where a television network claimed copyright violation. The Confederacy countered with the claim that the network did not own the event; they merely owned their recording of the event. Further, the AIs monitor and record all situations involving Confederacy citizens or property. In the case under question they were using their own recording of the event, not the network's recording.
Replication of books is only discussed in Victoria Per Scientiam where it is noted (possibly with canon issues) that any book known to an AI can be reproduced using a replicator.
Legal enforcement of copyright infringements by Confederacy personnel of Earth copyrights are not legally enforceable. No conventions to enforce copyright violations or establish a system for permissions was established until Year 14.
Confederacy copyrighted material
Unique creations of sponsors are protected, and sponsors hold copyright to the works of their concubines and dependents until they either become sponsors or concubines, at which point copyright ownership is transferred.
Other Intellectual Property
Works of art (or unique crafts) are strongly protected by intellectual property law and cannot be reproduced, and they form a significant portion of inter-colonial trade.
Some replicator designs are considered protected intellectual property.
References
From Oysters, Half baked by Bad Line Ghoul
Pogs nodded sadly. "Pogs would share, but AI says copyright blah blah blah." He shrugged. "Is in system, if rules change. Worst case, if Swarm win, copyright expire, everyone can share then. Scanned in other music to share. Movies, too."
From First Cruise of Lt Steward by John Lewiston
"Gosh, I'm afraid I can't do that, fellas," Eddie spoke with unfelt sympathy, "That control junction is classified "Zird," and cannot be replicated by humans or any other species that do not have manufacturing privileges for the Blad-type engine. It's an intellectual property thing. Even you primates should understand that."
Licensing Agreements
From ZM:
After year 14, the Harrad Colony struck deals with most major corporations, etc to license all intellectual property in return for archiving it off Earth in Tuull area of influence. Part of the licensing included the right to sell/re-license to all colonies and any species in the Confederacy - with the owner receiving the equivalent profit per unit that they received on Earth. The Harrad Colony also has a repository for all archived Earth plants and animals...
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