Re: COMPCOMM: Background on Software Patents

["I. David Brown" <idbrown@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca>]

Dear Lachlan,

	I will only add my concerns to those already expressed,
particularly those expressed by Ralf Grosse-Kunstleve.  In my experience
the most effective documents are those that lay out the facts without any
polemic, leaving the facts to speak for themselves.  In my own reading I
tend to discount any document that approaches the problem with a clear axe
to grind.  It behoves an organization like the IUCr to take a balanced
view of any problem, to rehearse the arguments fully on both sides,
and to draw conclusions from an unbiased view of the facts.  It
is also, of course, necessary to have all members of the Commission on
side before any document is released in the name of the Commission and I,
for one, need to be convinced that there is a problem, not yet knowing
anything much about the situation.  Your original statement was short on
the facts that are needed to make a convincing case.  I look forward to
the promised new draft.

			David


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Dr.I.David Brown,  Professor Emeritus
Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research,
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Tel: 1-(905)-525-9140 ext 24710
Fax: 1-(905)-521-2773
idbrown@mcmaster.ca
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