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Atmosphere of theft

Update victim Updated - 23rd Mar 2009

You're just off a bit on your nomination for what you call an "atmosphere of theft".

This originated with the writers of the constitution when they authorized patents and copyrights to "Authors" and "Inventors" (Note: These are human beings.) and that they were authorized for "Limited Time".

These are government granted monopolies clearly intended to be held only by human beings and for only short times. The intent was to build a base of data upon which others could build, and for many years, until congress allowed companies to own these monopolies and the time limit was extended effectively into perpetuity, this idea worked very well. It promoted the great prosperity of the United States in the twentieth century, until the extensions took hold and instead of PROMOTING inventions these monopolies became instruments of RESTRICTION.

As now applied, these "limited time" monopolies are only harmful to economic growth and commerce. They attempt to regulate thought, which can not be done.

They should be returned to only held by human beings and only for a maximum of 5 years.