Shaky Foundations

This Minneapolis Star-Tribune story made me gasp, and not merely because it directly references the Feist case. The case referenced in the article provides an index on how very, very, very freakin' far we've traveled from 1790, when copyright addressed ONLY "books, maps, and charts." Note that the (losing) plaintiff had apparently registered its condominium designs with the U.S. Patent Office, but chose to pursue the defendant NOT via patent law, but through copyright. Note further that the case was grounded in the same type "look and feel" arguments that Apple employed to pursue Windows. I'm thankful that, for the moment, federal juries are rejecting these sorts of claims, but I can easily envision a time when the promulgation of corporate ownership of ideas as the copyright paradigm will produce a different result.