Quote:
Originally Posted by JeremyR
Why should people "own" ideas or images or ways that letters are arranged? Especially the way it is now, basically forever? Being able to own intangible things is kind of ridiculous, when you think about it....
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Don't overstate... copyright is about being given exclusive rights to an original idea for a limited amount of time, in order to encourage the development of those original ideas for others to enjoy. Without it, many of those original ideas would not be developed. Nothing ridiculous about that at all. (And the debate about the state of copyright is going on in another thread... this is the entitlement thread.)
An idea may not be a physical object, but it can be just as significant. Einstein's theories would be significant, even if we hadn't built an atomic bomb.