Copyright makes sense to me. Since nobody else is ever likely to make another work of art, music, prose, or program that is identical to mine, giving me an exclusive but limited right to monetize it does not severely restrict others' right to do the same with their expression of their ideas, even if extremely similar to mine own. I do think copyrights extend to too long a length of time, though.
A patent is a different creature, because the owner believes he owns a concept, not it's expression, and I know from experience that ideas are seldom original, often occur simultaneously, are often poorly documented and definitely do inhibit others' creativity and ability to do the same with similar ideas.
So copyrights don't seem to harm society or culture, while allowing the creator the ability to make some money, with no downside to quantity. Patents, when used a lot, inhibit new creations by freezing development until patents run out. I think progress is limited by the excessive numbers of patents, not enhanced. Perhaps they should be limited to the best 100 ideas each year or some such. But giving exclusive monopolies for many years on ideas of marginal value is not the way to go, I think.
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Re: Patent Lobotomy
A patent is a different creature, because the owner believes he owns a concept, not it's expression, and I know from experience that ideas are seldom original, often occur simultaneously, are often poorly documented and definitely do inhibit others' creativity and ability to do the same with similar ideas.
So copyrights don't seem to harm society or culture, while allowing the creator the ability to make some money, with no downside to quantity. Patents, when used a lot, inhibit new creations by freezing development until patents run out. I think progress is limited by the excessive numbers of patents, not enhanced. Perhaps they should be limited to the best 100 ideas each year or some such. But giving exclusive monopolies for many years on ideas of marginal value is not the way to go, I think.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Elwood Diverse.
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