Ben Franklin refused to patent any of his inventions saying "As I have benefitted from the work of others, so may others benefit from mine." There was more to it than he may have realized, although being Benjamin Franklin - polymath genius and Father of his Country - that wouldn't be a safe bet.
[Note: You say I don't know my history and that George Washington was the Father of his Country? You don't know your Ben Franklin :boing2:]
In music, in literature, in the sciences, technology, the plastic and performing arts, hell
every single field of human endeavor things draw from, are inspired by and borrow from what has gone before. Rock has its roots in the Blues which was in turn influenced by Black funeral music, African rhythms, Piedmont folk music, old English tunes and so on. There are only twelve plots, according to Aristotle, and nobody uses more than three or four of them. I won't even get into things based in the physical world as opposed to the purer domain of imagination.
The intolerable reinforcement of the patent and "intellectual property" laws has made innovation difficult, expensive, dangerous and fraught with lawsuits. The DMCA and other such bills have language that doesn't just grant a right to develop and try to profit from the products of the mind. They attempt to guarantee particular levels of profit for certain business models by giving out huge land grants, as it were, to those with the money to hire legions of silk-stockinged corporate law firms.
The public domain has been subjected to Enclosure Acts. Fair use is almost dead. And Copyright and Patent have been extended to eternity by the Supremes (led in the decision by Anthony *spit* Scalia, that smug shadow-faced political thug).
Back when this country's fundamental law was codified the government was given the power to
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
What we have now is the parcelling out of the entire contents of the human mind to the large and wealthy. Genes, created by Nature through evolution or by the Creator through Divine intervention (your choice) can be declared "intellectual property". Use the wrong color in advertising and you will be sued. Mickey Mouse is eternally the property of Disney. With almost all scientific research now proprietary, bought, paid for and covered as trade secrets the free interchange of information and ideas is slowing dangerously according to AAAS, UCS, Sigma Xi and just about every other professional society.
In short, the law has been perverted to be solely the tool of increased power and wealth for the already powerful, connected and wealthy. It now runs squarely against the intent of those who framed it and to the detriment of those who pay for it.
