Anyone remember the "aether?" From Wikipedia:
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In the late 19th century, "luminiferous aether" (or "ether"), meaning light-bearing aether, was the term used to describe a medium for the propagation of light.[1] ...
Later theories including special relativity were formulated without the concept of aether. Today the idea of aether, what Albert Michelson called "one of the grandest generalizations of modern science", is regarded as a superseded scientific theory.
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Aether made sense for a while:
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In addition, Maxwell's equations required that all electromagnetic waves in vacuum propagate at a fixed speed, c. As this can only occur in one reference frame in Newtonian physics (see Galilean-Newtonian relativity), the aether was hypothesized as the absolute and unique frame of reference in which Maxwell's equations hold....
Nevertheless, by this point the mechanical qualities of the aether had become more and more magical: it had to be a fluid in order to fill space, but one that was millions of times more rigid than steel in order to support the high frequencies of light waves. It also had to be massless and without viscosity, otherwise it would visibly affect the orbits of planets. Additionally it appeared it had to be completely transparent, non-dispersive, incompressible, and continuous at a very small scale.[3]
Maxwell wrote in Encyclopedia Britannica:[4]
Aethers were invented for the planets to swim in, to constitute electric atmospheres and magnetic effluvia, to convey sensations from one part of our bodies to another, and so on, until all space had been filled three or four times over with aethers.... The only aether which has survived is that which was invented by Huygens to explain the propagation of light.
Contemporary scientists were aware of the problems, but aether theory was so entrenched in physical law by this point that it was simply assumed to exist. In 1908 Oliver Lodge gave a speech in behalf of Lord Rayleigh [5] to the Royal Institution on this topic, in which he outlined its physical properties, and then attempted to offer reasons why they were not impossible.
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Intellectual Property is the aether of law. In time, IP will disappear. Meanwhile, it will be like Huygens aether, lingering in places while we struggle to develop a legal structure which will support an economic system to achieve our cultural and scientific objectives without trying to deny technological realities.