Quote:
Originally Posted by PKFFW
No it's not.
Currently it is copyright infringement. You want society to protect your IP just the same as your PP so copyright would go out the window.
In that brave new world, (see what I did there?  ) I wouldn't be allowed to steal your IP just like I wouldn't be allowed to steal your PP but I could copy your IP just like I could copy your PP. |
A comparison might be TV's. If LG has a royal monopoly to sell TV's and I buy a Sony TV, am I stealing from LG? That was the world that the founders lived in, royal monopolies for all sorts of things. Buying a TV from Sony isn't stealing from LG. It was a lost sale for LG and a violation of the royal monopoly. That is what copyright is. When someone violates copyright, they are not charged with stealing, rather they are sued in civil court for copyright violation. The author still has his manuscript, so nothing was stolen from him or her.
I point back to the quote from Thomas Jefferson that I referenced earlier in the thread on why things such as patents and copyrights were not property.