Quote:
Originally Posted by teh603
There was creativity before copyright law, and it also hasn't stopped the worst abuses on either end; for example, Eli Whitney having all his inventions ripped off by other manufacturers, and Thomas Edison legally stealing patents from inventors like Tesla. I don't know if we'd be better off without it, but the system we've been using is so broken its unbelievable.
|
Examples of law-breaking incidents don't invalidate the law... they only make it clear that the law must be improved and upheld to be functional.
Quote:
Originally Posted by teh603
I was referring to the example of societies mutually assisting one another and the arguable theft of a primary sale from the tool manufacturer... Ultimately, the metaphor of "theft of sales" is the same, isn't it?
|
You're right in that it is arguable. But again, you're comparing the handling of used physical products to the handling of an ebook file, and I contend that it's a bad analogy: A used physical product is by definition no longer new, and according to law, cannot be sold as "new"; an ebook cannot be considered used, since its "used" state is essentially the same as "new."
I fail to see what this has to do with societies "hanging together," or how copyright somehow breaks that assumption. These laws are designed to prevent theft and financial chaos, which are counter to society. If they don't work properly, they must be improved to the satisfaction of society.