Allow me to start with patents. Patents protect the design of an invention. In example, you might look at the bladeless fan from Dyson. What everyone doesn't know is that since the creation of patents, innovative progress has slowed down greatly. Believe it or not, if these laws were never invented, we all could of had flying cars and UHDTV's by the 1990's due to the fact that everyones designs could be worked on and improved. I think that is just wrong on unimaginable levels.
Now let's turn our heads to copyrights. These laws came into play approximately during the 1400's when the right to knowledge was first becoming infringed upon. People had easy access to information which made books cheaper. Then, the press decided to throw this right out the windows and copyrights followed in later years. Now, of course, copyrights don't only protect literature, but every form of media including music, movies, games, photos, etc.
The truth is, though, these laws weren't supposed to come into existance. Intellectual property is nothing more than a free-roaming thought, which can spread from person to person with no price tag. All these things that are projected from the idea are but mere objects. They're made to look like the thought, but they are never the thought itself. Why claim ownership of something you cannot physically touch? My opinion is that if something can travel to everyone with no cost, you can't claim ownership of it. However, you can claim authorship in which you will be covered by plagiarism laws.
In conlusion, don't put a price on something you can't control. Because all they're doing is paying for a plastic figure, CD, digital photo, or book. But they are never paying for the thought itself.
Let me know what you think in the comments,
Noah Bangs
