> Suppose we lived in a world in which copy protection of information
> could be achieved....
> Then I would propose that this would lead to the optimal allocation of
> resources for the production of information and other goods....
So how do you propose to measure the immense loss of valuable goods
from those people who would have made use of a larger public domain
of art and ideas to create, but who were priced out? Your argument
assumes that "creative" works appear ex nihilo, and that they have
some inherent value, both of which I can't agree with. Creative
works are worthless. They only have value when there is demand, and
you can only create demand by exposure to similar works or to the
products or research. As for patents, it is very likely that the
people best able to make good products from an invention, and those
best able to market those products, are not the inventors or those
hired by the inventors. By limiting the use of the invention to
"authorized" uses, you effective shut out the imaginations of the
billions of people who might have come up with better uses for the
idea, or slightly better crafted products, or slightly derivative
works of great value.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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