Quote:
Originally Posted by leebase
Tsk Tsk...clever but wrong. The "Copyright" is the property. The RIGHT to Copy is the property. Not the "action of copying".
"I" wrote "My Book" and I own the Copyright for my lifetime plus 75 years. Nobody else, without my permission (and presumed compensation) may copy my book (except for explicitly listed purposes laid out in the govt' copyright statute).
If you have copied my book, without my permission and or compensation....you have robbed me. Theft of services is still theft.
As it relates to the point of the argument I was making....I view holding "the copyright" to be holding property. It's just that it becomes "not property" after a government defined period of time.
How is it property? It has value. It belongs to me. I can sell or transfer that value to another person. My children can inherit that as well.
It is therefore property.
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So your argument is that it's property because you say it's property. Sorry, just because you say it's so, doesn't make it so. Copyright is a government granted monopoly, no more, no less. An individual book, be it paper or digital is property. The right to make a copy of it isn't.
Property is treated very differently in the US. Property can not be taken from someone without due process or just compensation, yet the term of copyright is set by Congress and can be changed at anytime. I'm pretty sure that you aren't going to see any laws passed by Congress saying that you can only own a house for 20 years and then anyone can move in with no compensation.