Stop labeling idea sharing as "theft." 1) Deregulation will not stifle innovation. Large companies are buying up ideas regardless if they are the actual inventor or not, so innovation is already being stifled under the current system. Deregulation will actually increase innovative competition because market pressure will push ideas to the market faster. The way it is right now, companies can sit on good ideas for years but not be forced to release new products/services because their old ideas are still selling. People will always innovate. 2) Large companies versus the common person The average person doesn't have the money to hire an army of lawyers. Making it a free-for-all actually levels the playing field for the little guy because he/she wouldn't have to worry about being sued. 3) Large companies versus other large companies Even if people do have the money to hire an army of lawyers, it is still a huge waste of resources to have Company X fighting company Y over something like having rounded corners on their cell phone. Companies should be reinvesting that capital in other areas to improve efficiency. 4) Ideas can come from different people at the same time Newton and Liebniz developed calculus at the same time in different countries. Does it matter who gets to patent calculus? It isn't right to limit one idea to one person because multiple individuals can come up with the same, or similar, ideas all at the same time. 5) Practical Enforcement Issues It doesn't look good when the FBI is breaking down doors and arresting 9 year old kids for downloading movies and music; although owners of private JV detention centers are probably salivating, at least until their own kids get arrested anyway. 6) Everything is Theft, Nothing is 100% Original From the time we are born, all of our ideas come from somewhere. We get our ideas from our parents, from teachers, from other students, from co-workers, bosses, from TV and other media, etc. The point is that nothing is totally original. Musicians sample from each other all the time, and yet they want to sue people who download their art online? They make plenty of money from sponsors and live shows, that should be enough. If a movie is good enough, you go see it on the big screen. If movie producers want more money then they should stop making crappy movies, not go after 9 year olds for downloading them a year after they are released. At the very least, we should (incrementally?) reduce the length of time that an idea is protected for. This will force good ideas to market faster and reduce the amount of resources wasted in patent/trademark/copyright courts.
We should greatly reduce the amount of time of patent and copyright protection. Unfortunately, things have moved in the opposite direction. Maybe the mess with tech companies will lead to a change.
