Opus 2012-317: Cornerstone Considerations: Intellectual Property, part 2

Today we are having problems with the idea of intellectual property.  Much of this goes unnoticed by the general public.  It just isn’t something we worry about.  Maybe we should.  How this issue goes determines the quality of life for every American.

First, how has the law changed?  The original 14 years is now up to the life of the author plus, and the plus keeps changing so that it is possible that current creations may never enter into the public domain.  The “limited times” of the original concept has become forever.  Second, you now have automatic copyright.  You don’t need to apply.  If you write it, it is yours.

This preserves the first concern of the Founding Fathers, that you profit from your efforts.  It stifles the second because it discourages continued development.  It does not “promote progress.” It is a lawyers dream.  All you need to do is claim that you wrote something first and you have a case in court. 

We need to get back to the original intent.  We need to stop bowing to the standards of the world.  Much of the change is because of international pressure.  We need to realize that the American experiment was an attempt to get away from the attitudes and values of Europe and create something new.  Europe is all about privileged classes and elites who know what is best for the peasants.  It was that way in 1789.  It is that way now.  Washington, D.C. is becoming that way.  Europe, then as now, is going in the wrong direction.  Our ways have produced abundance and opportunity.  Theirs have limited growth.  Why are we becoming followers?

These short sighted changes are also undermining the ethics of our culture.  People are increasingly ignoring the law because they see it as stilted and part of the problem.  Someone observed that every time the copyright on Micky Mouse starts to run out the time for copyrights is extended.  This is not free enterprise, this if crony capitalism.  This is politics over freedom.  Ultimately it will be want over plenty.

This is an area under the radar but just another example of how we need to get back to the original principles of the Founding Fathers as expressed in the Constitution.

The future is in the balance.

homo unius libri