>The purpose wasn't so you could get insanely wealthy off of an idea
Agreed, although getting wealthy off an idea isn't inherently unethical either.
> provide an incentive for people to create and learn.
Agreed. Rewarding people for adding "useful" pieces to societies knowledge base should be rewarded.
> Copyright and patent laws are now doing the opposite.
In the aggregate? I don't think so. The professor in the linked article for this thread is obviously doing the opposite. In undergraduate academia, 95% (made up number) of the actual knowledge in the materials being used to educate are or should be in the public domain.
The fact that the market for calculus books didn't completely collapse with the advent of the laptop (let alone the ipad) is a sign that there's a deliberate effort in the academic world to force students to pay for intellectual property that has no value beyond what is already freely available elsewhere.
But to generalize and claim that all copyright and patent laws are doing more harm than good is specious. Are you saying we should get rid of all IP protections? Completely?
Agreed, although getting wealthy off an idea isn't inherently unethical either.
> provide an incentive for people to create and learn.
Agreed. Rewarding people for adding "useful" pieces to societies knowledge base should be rewarded.
> Copyright and patent laws are now doing the opposite.
In the aggregate? I don't think so. The professor in the linked article for this thread is obviously doing the opposite. In undergraduate academia, 95% (made up number) of the actual knowledge in the materials being used to educate are or should be in the public domain.
The fact that the market for calculus books didn't completely collapse with the advent of the laptop (let alone the ipad) is a sign that there's a deliberate effort in the academic world to force students to pay for intellectual property that has no value beyond what is already freely available elsewhere.
But to generalize and claim that all copyright and patent laws are doing more harm than good is specious. Are you saying we should get rid of all IP protections? Completely?