vicbrooker

I'm currently sitting in a class discussion at my university discussing the relationship between the internet and privacy/IP law.

Everyone here are law students and the most common view of the internet as a physical place - the lecturer recently wrote an article asking whether the internet should be seen as a meadow or a series of rooms.

My answer is neither. I don't think that using physical metaphors are going to accurately represent what the internet is and how it works. I think it's actually a bit dangerous once we start making laws off this assumption too.

So my question is, how do you all see the internet? What's the fairest way to conceptualise data, how it's made and who can use it?

I can't help but think that asking here is going to be better than asking the law faculty :-/

TL;DR: How should we think of the internet? Should it be treated as a physical 'place' or is this wrong? How do we explain it to people without a tech background (lawyers, young children etc.)?

Is anyone else worried about how as we move towards flat/minimalist design and designs that are really more or less the same (how many ways can you really draw a 'flat' clock for example) that we're opening up a pandora's box of trolls?

At least with to patent troll you actually need a patent. To be a 'design troll' all you need is to have drawn something. After that you're 'protected by copyright' and have the right to file a DMCA takedown once you're infringed. Right?

But is there infringement? A lot of the support of LV's takedown was more to do with ethics and morals than the law. Unfortunately they're completely different things.

People saying that the similar colour palettes justify a DMCA complaint aren't just wrong but they're misleading the group they post in. Colour palettes aren't copyrightable, colours can in some circumstances be trademarked. Tiffany & co did it. So did T-Mobile.

If I use Tiffany blue and T-Mobile magenta in my website about silver-cased phones I won't get a DMCA complaint. I'll be notified of a trademark infringement. I'll probably get my ass beaten up in court.

Long story short, is it time that someone put together a resource for founders that explains in plain language when they should/shouldn't be putting in complaints or taking legal action? I'm still a law student so I can't until my degree is over so I'm not really able to. Is anyone in HN qualified and interested?

The potential for trolling here is enormous. More worrying is that copyright is a confusing sonofabitch and it's easy to assume that making something grants exclusive use over all elements of it. It's hard enough for me with most of a law degree and a particular interest in IP law to get my head around which parts of my startup's product are covered and why.

I guess I'd just prefer it if we could spend time making neat stuff instead of constantly looking over our shoulders every time we make a new icon. What do you think?