In this country, there is something called the Public Lending Right which does provide authors with a payment for every time a book is lent by a library so they DO get a payment for every additional person reading a book... it's not a lot but it is a payment... and where did Apple steal mp3 players from? It's hardly their fault that people actually liked the iTunes store idea, they were supposed to and, again, it's hardly their fault that others didn't do it first/as successfully.
And as far as secondhand books are concerned, that argument means when I sell my old computer/TV/jacket/whatever then I should pay the original manufacturer again!!!!
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Originally Posted by JeremyR
The thing is, intellectual property laws are somewhat well, imaginary, and not that consistent.
The iPod is a great example. It wasn't the first mp3 player by any means. So how come it's okay for Apple to steal an idea from another company and use its marketing prowess to squash all competitors that had products out first?
Because the law says so. Just like the (current) law says that it's okay to re-sell physical books and loan them out to people for money (like libraries). Even though in both cases, the original author doesn't get squat from every additional person reading it.
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