I write software for a living which means people basically people pay me for my ideas. I’m all in favor of compensating people for their work, but I think current laws protecting big corporations rather than providing benefits to the the general public.

Copyrights and patents were intended to encourage people to create and invent when they otherwise might not. But eventually those creations are supposed to become available to the public. Lately, the view seems to be that copyrights and patents exist for the inventor, when in fact they exist for the public. The basis of copyright and patent law comes from section 8 of the US Constitution:

The Congress shall have power to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries

The term “intellectual property” has arisen in the modern world. However it’s a mistake to think that ideas can be treated as property in the same way that physical things are property.
I’d like to see some balance come back into copyright and patent system. Continue reading →