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msknight

Michelle's corner

Michelle Knight. Writer, photographer, programmer, truck driver and general, all round nut case. Life is a journey and that's what this blog will probably end up being. Let's see where we go, eh? ;-)

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Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics
Dalai Lama XIV, Ian Coghlan
Progress: 23/433 pages

The question that has no answer.

An interesting article regarding copyright popped up on the BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40029781

 

Charles Dickens even went to the USA to protest his case and then, copyright was not granted to non-citizens, so his books were being pirated by all and sundry.

So, intellectual property reflects an economic trade-off, a balancing act. If it's too generous to the creators, then good ideas will take too long to copy, adapt and spread. If it's too stingy, then maybe we won't see the good ideas at all.

And now, how it has all changed. Thanks to the Mickey Mouse law as it is known, the USA is now the primary driver of extended copyright.

A few decades later, when American authors and inventors spoke with a more powerful voice, America's lawmakers began to take an increasingly fond view of the idea of intellectual property. Newspapers, once opposed to copyright, now rely upon it.

A strange beast indeed. The pendulum which gave unfettered freedoms has swung so far the other way that it hurts. Will it swing back? Who knows. And if it does, will it find a sensible medium or simply swing back too far the other way? This is a debate that will run and run. A question that has no answer. Is 0 a number?