The public benefits most when people are incentivized to create works. Works the public then pays for. Because works are paid for, more incentive to create works.
When the public seizes property...there is no incentive to create.
Sure, very few works are valuable....but those are the works people want. People want Mickey Mouse and Star Wars and Harry Potter. They want them because they are valuable.
The original story of Snow White is not why people want to have access to Disney's Snow White. You can ALREADY write new Snow White stories based on the original. But what is valuable is Disney's Snow White and the 7 dwarves with explicit names and the look of Disney's drawings. Why? Because of the business Disney built making the brand, the characters, the story valuable. People spend thousands of dollars to go to Disney theme parks so the kids can meet the characters that the movies and tv shows and cartoons have built up demand.
So of COURSE, people would love to have free access to the value the Disney Corp has spent decades and billions of dollars building up. They want to sell Mickey Mouse hats, and Halloween costumes, etc.
All of this economic good....blessing children generation after generation...providing jobs and powering innovation....
All of this because of the concept of intellectual property.
And like real property...it’s value does not belong to the public.
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