The notion of intellectual property is socially beneficial, but only insofar as it accomplishes its original goal "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..."
Copyright dynasties that expand generations beyond the publication of a work or the death of the author, IP rights held by corporations as works for hire under extortionate terms without any further compensation of the original authors, perpetual trademark rights eclipsing fair use of aspects of works that have long since entered the public domain, the potential prevention of a digital public domain at all through DRM that is illegal to crack, a scientific journal's exclusive rights to publicly funded research... None of these things promote the progress of science and the useful arts, nor are they for a limited time. Copyright reform is long overdue.
The notion of intellectual property is socially beneficial, but only insofar as it accomplishes its original goal "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..."
Copyright dynasties that expand generations beyond the publication of a work or the death of the author, IP rights held by corporations as works for hire under extortionate terms without any further compensation of the original authors, perpetual trademark rights eclipsing fair use of aspects of works that have long since entered the public domain, the potential prevention of a digital public domain at all through DRM that is illegal to crack, a scientific journal's exclusive rights to publicly funded research... None of these things promote the progress of science and the useful arts, nor are they for a limited time. Copyright reform is long overdue.