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Many posts compare copyrights to patents. Something I'd like to note about the difference is the purpose. Both protect innovation-but the purpose of a patent is for the innovator to publish the innovation in exchange for protection. Copyright might work that way in some areas but not for most protected works. (I can see a painter keeping his artwork to himself but I imagine it would be highly unusual. I can't see a writer doing so at all.) Publishing innovation spurs further innovation but not protecting innovation stifles it-at least so the theory goes. And it does seem to work that way with patents-I'm not so sure it applies to copyrights. (Patents are a very different problem because they can protect the ideas themselves. I'm not sure this is the best forum in which to discuss patent law.)
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