Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnyb
Second, another innovation was the introduction of copyright (ip in general) came much later. This really separates the current situation and history.
Read for example Cerquiglini on the matter...
Before, all that could be owned was th actual material the print consisted of, after you could own the idea (which lead to the introduction of the large scale leagl constructions).
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Copyright does not protect ideas; it only protects a specific concrete expression of an idea. J.K. Rowling does not own the idea of "a boy going to a school where he learns to be a wizard"; she owns the specific instance of that idea that she wrote down, and everyone else is still free to write their own stories about boys going to wizard schools. Ideas have no legal protection.