Quote:
Originally Posted by kennyc
The Creator of the work is the owner of the copyright. End of story. The law defines certain exemptions to others in copying or excerpting parts of the work.
There is no such thing as a "natural state" -- I can as easily say the natural state is that no one can copy. The only "natural state" is that if I create something it is mine, not yours, not anyone elses and I get to decide what I do with it. If you take it without my permission, you are a thief.
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There is nothing natural at all about that. It's simply a social custom enacted into law according to the emerging mercantilist/capitalist mind set of the 17th and ensuing centuries. Chaucer would have no clue what on earth you were talking about. Copyright isn't even a factor in all legal/juridical systems of the present age. This is not to say that it may not, at times, serve a socially useful purpose (i.e. giving an incentive to create works of value to the populace). You can't, however, abstract a 'natural' right from a social convention which is justified by its utility. Or do you think that the right to a jury trial in civil matters amounting to more than 20 dollars (7th Amendment of the US Constitution) is a 'natural' right?
Luqman