India At The Forefront Of Knowledge Commons Debate

A great article about the recent Knowledge Symposium held in India:

“There’s also anger over some recent developments. Red Hat India’s Venkatesh Hariharan pointed to attempts to patent yogic postures, under the name of Bikram Yoga, in the United States recently. “When asked, why he was doing it, the expatriate Indian’s answer was, ‘This is the American way of life’,” Hariharan said.

“These are models that we need to look at. Is that kind of model applicable to India?” Hariharan said. “If we [in India] had patented the zero, what would have happened to the world of IT? Would one of the most famous person in the world of IT have had so many ‘zeroes’ behind his net worth?”

Red Hat, Bikram Yoga, and "intellectual property" issues - this is too good to pass up. Check it out: India At The Forefront Of Knowledge Commons Debate