Quote:
Originally Posted by Format C:
But I think there is a huge difference between putting somebody in charge and complete ownership of an apartment (mankind can live without entering my house), and to put him in charge and ownership of an idea (mankind wouldn't be the same if Homer had copyright and prevented everybody from reading the Odyssey....).So the Odyssey is Homer's complete property until he's living, and it's mankind's property at his death.
That's fair enough to make Homer live from his work, and the whole mankind to develop civilization and education.
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For a moment let's imagine ancient Greeks were extremely lawful society.
If Odyssey is Homer's complete property until he dies, then Homer may at some point, say 20 years after the work is created, destroy the work completely. That is, he would tell all the Greeks to forget Odyssey they remember, never think of it, and never pass it on to anyone else.
Any action that would preserve the work for mankind after Homer's death would therefore be a crime, so Homer could cause his work not to be passed to mankind at all.
An idea cannot be a property.