An Interesting article on the current intellectual property landscape.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150409/08483530599/copyrights-patents-have-become-religion-all-data-will-be-ignored.shtmlIf you've read Techdirt for any length of time, you'll have noticed that intellectual property laws have been decoupled from logic for several years now. Because the entities heavily-reliant on IP protections (and who mostly serve as gatekeepers and middlemen, rather than perform any creative work of their own) have trouble producing evidence that extended copyright terms or increased enforcement efforts are actually instrumental to the creation of future artistic works, they have tended to fall back on assertions that various governments have a "duty" to protect their interests.
It's not an assertion borne of data or extensive research. It's a statement of faith. Record labels and movie studios spend millions every year issuing takedowns and lobbying for favorable laws. And every year, they fail to point out where these efforts have added to the bottom line. When confronted with this lack of evidence, they'll often declare this is only because we're not doing the things that aren't working hard enough or often enough or with enough severity.
Mark Lemley, whose work -- especially that focused on the broken patent system -- has been featured here before, has just published a paper examining this thought process: Faith-based Intellectual Property.
This is an interesting read and one that shoots holes in the claims of the so called creative industries that continue to demand more and more favourable legislation because their business models are out of touch with modern distribution methods, as is their pricing and creator renumeration.
