------ art_70833_1778719.1147818008410 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline On 5/16/06, Michael Greenly <mgreenly / gmail.com> wrote: > > Copyright laws create a limitation where there > would not otherwise be one. > > All property laws do this. Real property, chattle (physical, but not land), and Intellectual Property laws create limits and boundaries. I own a house and the yard around the house. This "ownership" is just a state sponsored limitation of the use of the particular piece of land. It creates a limitation where there would not otherwise be one. However, that limitation is valuable to society as a whole. All forms of property ownership and the associated balances between the rights of the title-holder and the rights of non-title-holders allows us to have safety in our homes, invest in others' ventures, and do a whole lot of other things that allow us to grow as a society and a civilization. If you look at Darfur where the only law is "I have a gun and I'm going to take what I want," there is no society, no investment, and no quality of life. There is only horror and devistation. That horror and devistation comes because there is not set of rules that people agree on. IP laws protect the investment of authors and inventors. IP laws are part of the US Constitution. The Framers and dozens of generations of lawmakers have worked to strike a balance between the rights of authors and inventors and the marketplace. If you don't like the way the laws work, lobby to have them changed or do what Richard Stallman did... create a revolution. But remember, RMS created a revolution by creating excellent software and convincing the world that Open Source is a better way. He didn't steal from others. -- -------- David Pollak's Ruby Playground http://dppruby.com ------ art_70833_1778719.1147818008410--