Summations Only

The current system of perpetual copyrights is broken. It stifles creativity and ingenuity. The current system of silly copyrights, copyrighting a concept or a vague process, is broken. It stifles creativity and ingenuity.Total lack of copyright is a terrible option. It would tend to keep an unknown artist out of the market by allowing a larger, more well-funded company to sweep in, copy the work, distribute it farther with more advertising, and profit from the work of another. It would stifle creativity and ingenuity.The solution: reform copyright laws such that they expire after a reasonable amount of time. This lets the person or people who do the work profit from it. It gives people an incentive to create, and a reasonable expectation that should their idea prove profitable, they will see some of that profit.

Yes, we need reform. But we need reform that encourages innovation. We do not need more laws that reward businesses that have failed to innovate.

• no software patents, nor patents for mathematical algorithms;
• a shorter time for copyright protection to expire, in keeping with the faster pace of modern life.

Little to add, I guess, except to note that plagiarism has nothing to do with copyright.