At one time we had somewhat reasonable sounding protections via copyright and patent.
Today that’s so captured that Mickey Mouse is still in copyright and insulin for diabetics costs more than the saline it’s in.
It defies both the law as written and the human sense that wrote it to advocate for unproductive rent seeking: sixteen years? With a few point patches along the way? Thirty percent.
The Europeans find it ridiculous, the FTC finds it ridiculous, anyone who likes innovation finds it ridiculous.
But it’s mostly ridiculous because history is unambiguous on this point: you tell the peasants to eat cake long enough and you’ll swing from a dockyard crane.
Today that’s so captured that Mickey Mouse is still in copyright and insulin for diabetics costs more than the saline it’s in.
It defies both the law as written and the human sense that wrote it to advocate for unproductive rent seeking: sixteen years? With a few point patches along the way? Thirty percent.
The Europeans find it ridiculous, the FTC finds it ridiculous, anyone who likes innovation finds it ridiculous.
But it’s mostly ridiculous because history is unambiguous on this point: you tell the peasants to eat cake long enough and you’ll swing from a dockyard crane.
Let’s seek to avoid that kind of thing?