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Originally Posted by pwalker8
No copyright infringement has nothing to do with the idea of copyright as property, [...]
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Okay, so we agree on that much. It's a shame really, I had hoped a misunderstanding on this level might have offered common ground on the property discussion. Wishful thinking, I guess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
The copyright as property rhetorical device is purely about selling the idea that the government granted monopoly should be extended ad infinitum. [...]
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This really is tin-foil hat territory. There is absolutely nothing about treating a right as a property that in any way alters whether government will or will not extend that right. Copyright is treated as a property by business, and the law, because that is what is necessary to transact business. Business that owns valuable copyright will try hard to retain that valuable thing whether it is referred to as property or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
As far as support of the definition that I use, all one has to do is look in a dictionary pre 1970's. [...]
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A dictionary seems an odd place to look for legal definitions, but if you insist:
One 1925 American dictionary (
The New Universities Dictionary) defines property as "exclusive right of possession; the thing owned". (Quoting the relevant sense only.)
One 1946 English dictionary (
Odhams Dictionary of the English Language Illustrated) defines property as "a thing or things possessed". (Quoting the relevant sense only.)
No help for you in either of these, since neither attempts to limit what can be possessed in order to be considered a property. (Note: In case you're tempted to go there, "thing" includes the definition (from the OED): "that which is or may be in any way an object of perception, knowledge, or thought" That's fairly comprehensive, it certainly includes the possibility that a right may be possessed, so no help for you there either.)
Not that it matters. As I said earlier, copyright will continue to be treated as a property by all affected parties. Bystanders can call it whatever they want.