[MURG] Uploading IP (intellectual property)

[Yan King Yin]

From: cat13 at illrepute.org

>There is a hope that MU researchers create intellectual value (software,
>research).
>Many argue for enhancing that value by keeping open anything created.
>You propose that we seek a more immediate (short-term) return on that
>value by closing and selling it.

But how do you create a reward system when you don't protect
your assets with IP?

>I believe that making information proprietary is, without exception,
>detrimental to progress in the long run, even if there is an intent that
>the duration of proprietaryness (?) is intended to be temporary.  I am
>fully willing to accept the argument that that detriment can be offset by
>short-term gain, but I regard proprietaryness as a worst-case scenario.
>In other words, is there any other way we can possibly achieve whatever
>short-term gain we need?  To answer that, it seems we should determine
>our need: what costs do we need to cover?  What would you like to
>accomplish and what do we need to accomplish it?

I don't really agree with your criticisim of IP as detrimental,
I think that's one-dimensional thinking (ie a single objective
function such as goodness of end-product) without appreciating
the complexities of economics. A simplistic argument that says
this and that approach is better will not work, unless you do
an extensive comparison of federal funding, private funding, and
whatever open models. This requires lots of work. We may give
it a try, but I'm also thinking about the "AI" approach which
may short-circuit this process.

As for the requirements of MU, I think we already have a rough
estimation of what is needed. The costs of the whole project
will be at least comparable to the human genome project, since
the 2 projects have many common characteristics: 1) large-
-scale automated bioassays; 2) heavy computational needs; 3)
no need for clinical trials. But of course MU requires some
higher level research such as proteomics.

YKY


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