In article 
,
 "bill.martens{at}gmail.com"  wrote:

> On Jan 25, 11:54 pm, Steven Hirsch  wrote:
> > sicklittlemonkey wrote:
[...]
> > At the risk of being pedantic, the traditional goal of copyright and patent
> > protections is to further creativity and benefit society as a
whole.  It is
> > most specifically not intended to bolster a business model or a revenue
> > stream.  At some point things got turned around, methinks.
> 
> Actually, it is to protect the works of authors, nothing more and
> nothing less.
[...]

Actually, the governing law in the United States specifies, "The 
Congress shall have Power ... To promote the Progress of Science and 
useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the 
exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"

This is subject to the limitation in Amendment IX and the interpretation 
of the words "Progress" "limited". See also 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html>.

-- 
John B. Matthews
trashgod at gmail dot com
http://sites.google.com/site/drjohnbmatthews>
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