Re: Myths about Copyright -- Comm 435 at GMU

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Date Posted: 10:40:15 03/29/04 Mon
Author: Elaine Williams
Subject: Re: Myths about Copyright
In reply to: Scott Bradford 's message, "Re: Myths about Copyright" on 19:03:09 03/25/04 Thu

Reading through the myths, I found two of them (which
>are loosely related) quite interesting --
>
>"Intellectual property is an ancient principle" and
>"Without intellectual property, no one will produce
>original work."
>
>I didn't realize that the earliest intellectual
>property laws were in 1623. I had always figured that
>the concept and laws related to it were much older.
>
>The explanation of the second myth I reference said,
>"Given that intellectual property law made its debut
>in 1623, we may correctly consider any work produced
>before this time to dispell the myth. Man created for
>millenia before the advent of intellectual property;
>he will create for many more millenia after it is
>abandoned."
>
>That raises the question -- how would things be
>different today if we simply got rid of intellectual
>property law (copyright, patents, trademark, etc.)?
>Do you think that people would still create? Would
>companies still be able to market their products
>successfully without being able to protect their name
>and symbols, or even their product itself?
>
>Something to think about ...

This is something to think about...I do think that people would still express creativity. However, without copyrights, patents and trademarks to protect intellectual property companies would no longer have an economic reason to spend money developing technologies as we know them, today. Without adequate compensation companies and even individuals are not likely to invest time and resources to develop technology. This means that society would have to depend on non-profit organization, generous individuals or the government. To conclude this county would not be so technologically or economically advanced without protection for intellectual property.

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Replies:

Re: Myths about Copyright -- John Murray, 00:04:30 03/30/04 Tue

Re: Myths about Copyright -- Nilsa Martinez, 07:42:50 03/30/04 Tue