Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
How is it an abuse of logic and reason?
If I own a house, I can rent it out until I die, and then I can pass it on to my children and they can do the same, then pass it on to their kids. For hundreds of years, in theory.
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If you own a book, you can do the same to it.
If, however, you build a house, and sell it to someone else, you don't have the right to give it to your kids after you die. You could rent it--with a detailed contract, which the renter agrees to, and has the option of negotiating terms, or leaving when the terms or fees become too much.
Books are generally sold, not rented. There's no contract describing the terms of use, no ongoing payments, and no option to stop paying and returning use to the original owner. Authors (and publishers) generally prefer not to have to negotiate usage rights with each book buyer. There's no signed contract between the two establishing what rights the buyer's bought--there's a receipt, like a deed, that says "it's yours now."
Copyright is an attempt to apply rental terms to purchases. And for the most part, it's a good thing; otherwise, many authors would be prone to only releasing their works to a tiny, high-paying audience, perhaps that had signed nondisclosure agreements.
I'm in favor of copyright monopolies... for a limited time. But they don't parallel directly to physical property concerns.
If you make a house, anyone else is free to make a house that looks just like it.