and of course, on the other hand, John Oswald has said: "If imagination is the field, copyright is the fences."
The following alternative scheme is offered as a step towards the evolution of more appropriate solutions.
IdeaRights Copyright is too inflexible a concept to allow for the open promotion of new ideas. We propose new models of authorship acknowledgement and idea protection that open up rather than restrict the potential for more involvement in ideas. Patents are expensive, can be stolen, take too long to get, and are often not an effective way to get new ideas protected. The IdeaRights scheme addresses specific issues regarding intellectual property rights, the exchange and promotion of new ideas, and issues that have become major concerns in the information age.
CopyRight Ideas are the intellectual property of an author, at whose discretion restrictions such as a licence fee or a royalty may be charged to those who access or use that idea licence fee.
CopyNot Private, secret or confidential ideas whose distribution is controlled and restricted by the originator of that idea for personal, commercial or developmental reasons.
PreCopy Ideas identified as not ready for distribution yet and protected until a defined stage of their development.
CopySynth An open collaborative idea seeking refinement and development to which people who contribute gain rights in proportion to their contribution, and thus receive reward or credit.
CopyShare Ideas which anybody can have access to, which are a public good, or which users may use like shareware programs, they are ideas to which they can contribute if they wish. Limits of distribution, credit or other recognition of the author is defined by the originator.