Originally posted to the Pho list.

> [One exception is the
> government: the government can in fact take your property without your
> permission as long as it pays you 'just compensation' for that]
Not automatically. Eminent Domain is not something the government can or will do trivially; it's essentially a blanket statement that the needs of the society outweigh the needs of the individual, and thus a genuine right of one is being stripped for the good of all.

The balancing of rights is something that's a *very* touchy subject, and the intentional strippage of rights doubly so. As far as I've seen, Eminent Domain is not something that's attempted lightly or accepted quickly--but it is something that's done, necessarily, justly, and often not soon enough.

Compulsory Licensing, where IP managers are stripped of their ability to determine terms, conditions, or licensees of their property, can be thought of as a form of Eminent Domain. Instead of physical property being forcibly redistributed, the ephemeral nature of "intellectual property" means that licensing rights are forcibly redistributed, as long as "just compensation" is met.

It is of no small significance that the two industries most at risk of coming under a compulsory licensing regime in the near future are AIDS Pharmaceutical companies, under "attack" by poorer nations attempting to save vast portions of their population from slow and miserable deaths...and Record Labels.

Curing AIDS and spreading MP3's(or was that the other way around?)...
Biotech and Datatech...
The Rich Poor, and the Poor Rich...

And at the end of the day, we're back to Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll.

It's going to be a hell of a ride.

Yours Truly,

    Dan Kaminsky
    www.doxpara.com