Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Nobody's suggest that the public pay for something to be guarded. Simply that the law provides a mechanism to punish those who take it without the owner's permission, just as is the case with physical property. It's your responsibility to protect your own property, but there's a legal mechanism to punish those who violate your protection and take it anyway.
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That's what copyright is, isn't it? The public pays, as a minimum via court cost? Providing that legal mechanism isn't free. Every law in the book has a cost associated with it. It may be generally a hidden cost, but it exist.
For the most part, I think your attempt to draw a parallel between real property and copyright doesn't work. Once I sell a copy of a book, there is no practical protection that an author can take to keep it from being copied again. It's very much different than locking the door on my house or car. The only option that an author has is an after the fact civil lawsuit which may or may not be successful.
Just as important, it a very hard sell to a jury. That's why one generally only sees such lawsuits against someone making money off the copyright violation, usually significant money. Otherwise, the cost of the suit in lawyer fees ends up more than you can recover, even if you win.