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Originally Posted by bevdeforges
Interesting discussion, but from what I understand, the original reason for patents and copyrights was in order to assure that inventions and works of art would return to the public domain in a reasonable period of time. Yes, the inventor or creator should benefit from what they have created/developed, but the idea is for the society to ultimately benefit from these things.
This was never supposed to set up the inventor or creator with an income for life, never mind his family and descendants.
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That was my understanding as well.
Like a patent, enough time to make a profit from your intellectual property. But ultimately the rights became public domain for others to use and benefit from.