Quote:
Originally Posted by murraypaul
Because they are more important.
Copyright and patents law is a balance between the rights of the individual to profit from their creations, and the right of society to benefit from them.
Patents have shorter time period because their benefits to society are greater, therefore the period allowed for the creator to solely profit is smaller.
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It's not just the greater benefits, but that excessively long periods of patent would lead to stagnation, and this fail the intent of patent. Technology is build upon technology that came before. If patent is too short or non-existent, there is no incentive to create. If too long, technical advancement stagnates.