Where do people get the idea that they can "own" "intellectual property"?

Question

The very idea revolts me!

As people seek to sue over "copyrighted" images & the like, it is akin to releasing beasts out of Pandora's Box, & then policing the thoughts of every individual to put it back again.

How long is it, before they try to determine that you have "illegal" mental copies of movies, games, pictures, or music?

Are we really selling out to the thought police like this?
You really can't "own" a thought, can you?

P.S. add details for the later comer here....

I am only referencing the intellectual part. I agree with owning physical things, like cars or houses.

But you can't own a thought. No-one can. It's impossible. Mental handcuffs, anyone?

Answer 1

I work in patents and I'm inclined to agree with you, particularly as far as copyright is concerned. A great deal of effort and investment goes into some inventions but the IP protection offered by patents lasts at most about 25 years. Of course most patented inventions are never used and many are rubbish anyway.

There is good reason though to enforce trademark law. Obviously it is easy to produce cheap and nasty copies of all kinds of goods, even as large as cars and trucks. If you set out to buy a Ford, you should get a Ford.

OTOH the rock or rap song put together by a few characters in a few hours after a few beers and spliff or two gets protection for umpteen years after the death of the last composer. This is the same protection offered to a Nobel Prize winning novel that some writer has slaved over for five years. Makes no sense to me.

I would put a limit of five years on the copyright for all recorded music if it is released anywhere, and I mean anywhere, Nicaragua or Mongolia as a "single". After that, it should be in the public domain. If it can't make a dollar for the performers, writers and record labels by then there is not much chance it ever will. So cop that, Capitol.

Answer 2

It's not the thought, it is the pyhsical expression of that thought in a published work, as a lyric, song, screenplay, etc.

Without it, there will be no art, or entertainment, no books, no writing, because anyone could steal it, and sell it as their own.

Saying "I want to write a story about a spy who forces an evil mastermind into bankruptcy to force him to spill his secrets." is an idea. Anyone can have it, anyone can write that story. No problem.

But one guy doing it, will do it a certain way. And it will be a limp story about a spy guy that steals this guy's fortune in a heist at gunpoint.

Another will write Casino Royale, and make a few million.

Do you seriously expect people to work for free? Do you really want to return to indentured slavery, or slavery?
You really can't "own" a person, can you?

It used to be legal, and encouraged. By those who founded America. Seriously.

I believe in intellectual property.

You don't. Yet, you should hand me the keys to your house, and car that you worked for, since... no one should own anything, right? Just because you say it is "yours" means nothing. A thief will steal your car, take it across the border to Mexico, and it is gone. I have seen it. No way to get it back, he's out the money. Was it really his?

So, when you start mailing off bags of money that you worked for, please add me and a few of my friends to the mailing list.

Answer 3

Intellectual Property law isn't so much about having the idea, but being allowed to use it. One of the first cases was a dress issue... they had the concept for the dresses, then they made the dresses and sold them, then someone stole the idea and produced the dresses and sold them for cheaper... that was ok because the dresses already had come out to the public and already had the chance to make money for the owners... and copying is important for our economy... we give people the choice of products and it keeps prices lower for us... but in another case, a west coast news org was stealing news stories from AP when they came out on the east coast, so they had 3 hours to publish them, then they could sell them as their own... and that wasn't fair because that news org didn't do the work themselves and didn't give AP the opportunity to sell before they copied it.

It is more complicated with films and books and things, but it's the same basic idea. Once the thing is made and released, you can't take it and post it somewhere where the company would be deprived of money... it's not about your thought... you can tell people about it (but not in large groups... just your individual friends), but you can't take the dvd and make it available for cheaper... they own the rights to the data on the dvd. You could produce your own of that movie and sell it yourself (you'd still have to acquire the rights to the screenplay which would be difficult)... but i doubt the same actors would do the same movie again, so it's not going to be exactly the same. You're allowed to copy and sell your own version of things, but you're not allowed to take the thing that they made and make it available so that the creator does not get any money.

It's not about your thought... you can think about anything you want... but if you've gotten the thought from someone else, you cannot use it. It's really abstract and a difficult area of the law, but I think it's correct... If I make something up, why should you be able to take it and use it? You can't take a specific model car and produce the same thing yourself, but you can create your own variation on that model and sell it yourself... car companies do that all the time. So it's not about what you can think, but what you can do with your thoughts... if it's not a solid item (well, data on your computer or something counts too, but that's still something tangible) then there can be no lawsuit... it's not going to extend to policing your ideas.

Think about CocaCola and Pepsi... You can't take Coke's formula and produce it as your own and sell it. But you can make a variation... you are perfectly allowed to sell another cola, and that's what Pepsi does. It's not about what you think, but what you try to make with those thoughts.

Answer 4

excellent point and one made throughout the world by millions of people who are impoverished by the wealthy and the efforts of the rich to get richer by exclusion.

Every use of musical innovation should pay a royalty to all Africans. Every hum of every bar of every song should
pay a fee. Otherwise - they are ill gotten gains.

If a microsoft dc-rom is a pirated copy on China, then
every gun and any expolsion worldwide should pay a royalty to China. Every noodle eaten should be paid to Chine or Italy...teh list is endless and ridiculous and only made an issue because of the collusion of the rich countries and their conduct of an ongoing cultural and economic war.

Curious logic and one that rides the slippery slope.

Answer 5

The 'idea' is at least three hundred years old,and none controls or owns someone else's thoughts;the 'product' of the thought can be subject to ownership and therefore sale,but ONLY if it has value attached to it.

Answer 6

Copyright laws and precedents that have already been established in some cases.