[ExI] Best case, was Hard Takeoff

[Samantha Atkins]

On Nov 19, 2010, at 8:40 PM, spike wrote:

> ... On Behalf Of Aleksei Riikonen
> ...
>> ... All the quality discussion seems to have moved to e.g. certain blogs
> and websites, instead of mailing lists, which were on the intellectual
> forefront in ages past.) --Aleksei Riikonen - 
> 
> I have noticed that trend as well, particularly in the mathematics forums.
> Some of you IP hipsters can perhaps clue me if my theory is correct: the
> reason the blogs and websites have become a popular forum is that the blog
> owner actually owns the content that is freely donated to her website.  On
> an email forum, it isn't clear to me that the originator of the internet
> group actually owns the intellectual property posted there, but rather it is
> considered public domain.  

I don't think it has that much to do with ownership per se, at least not in the common senses of IP. But it does allow the blog owner to put out a more coherent depth 'message' over time without it getting lost in all the traffic. It also allows the owner to mediate comments and entries with less drama than might ensue in a mailing list.  Of course it is possible to declare oneself the list owner/god and do much the the same for that aspect.

> 
> What if someone posts a really good idea here for instance.  Can anyone
> patent the idea?  What if the idea is posted to a blog?  Is there any
> difference in IP ownership between the two cases?
> 

Sure, if they just post it.  Same would be true if just posted in a blog or forum though unless very well specified otherwise.  Copyright would apply to the post themselves but not to the actionable ideas contained therein.  But IANAL.

- s