> If someone comes up with a new machine, why publish it if it's legal for every factory and large company to start producing them without compensating the inventor?
Sure, this is the goal of the patent system. You'll note that patents are intended for inventions, for ideas of practical value. Artworks without practical value are explicitly not protected by the patent system, nor are ideas without the necessary design components.
How would extending this system to ideas of pure form, rather than function, benefit society?
Sure, this is the goal of the patent system. You'll note that patents are intended for inventions, for ideas of practical value. Artworks without practical value are explicitly not protected by the patent system, nor are ideas without the necessary design components.
How would extending this system to ideas of pure form, rather than function, benefit society?