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Re: Will Wheaton is wrong on one point
Not sure I agree with Mr Phillips that this statement on patents applies mutatis mutandis to copyright. I'd always thought the ideas behind the two concepts were quite distinct. Patent is for inventions. To get a patent for something, you have to apply for it, by disclosing to the patent office how to make the invention. Then no-one except you can do it for a pretty short period (7 years or something, isn't it?) after which, anyone can do it, and the instructions of HOW to do are freely available. So the idea is to get people to make the thinking behind their inventions public domain so that the field can be advanced by those who read the patents and make their own inventions. On the other hand, copyright applies automatically, without requiring any application to be made, to works of artistic creativity. I have copyright over my novel even if it sits in my bottom drawer and never enters the public domain. It lasts much longer (about 10 times longer than patent, as I recall). I think Wil makes a fair point - at least the primary purpose of copyright is for the benefit of artistic creators, to stop people stealing their work. There are responses to this message:
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