Re: Some interesting economic facts

[Doug Masson <dmasson@iquest.net>]

> 
> It is true that patents and copyrights provide exclusivity for a limited time
> both as an incentive to create and as a way of eventually bringing the
> invention or artistic work into the public domain.
> 
> --Brett Glass

Without patents or copyrights, the process or expression would be in the
public domain as soon as it was distributed to the public I would imagine.
Another thing that bears mentioning is the constitutional basis for
intellectual property. 

The authority of Congress to pass copyright and patent laws is
grounded in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the U. S. Constitution which
says, "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 an instrumental clause which gives congress the power to promote
the progress of science and the useful arts. Arguably, Congress does not
have the power to secure to authors and inventors the exclusive right to
their respective writings and discoveries if securing those rights does
nothing to promote the progress of science and the useful arts.