Let me have it!.... Nah

So this week's readings by Lessig, Boldrin and Snapper tried to give three different perspectives on copyright, IP and patenting. Although you can try as much as you like, these are difficult concepts to pin down.

One of the things brought up in the tutorial was that of when can you exactly claim an idea as your own, and when you can enforce copyright on it. A few examples were given, each one more absurd than the last. For example, Ted said that he was the first at UOW to use the Prezi presentation tool, and now more and more people are using it. Would he be right to enforce copyright on that idea?

So for this post let's just put aside the claims to copyright, and the numerous wars going on between companies for patents (Google and Apple, anyone?) And let's instead look at who and why it's such a big deal.

I think, it all comes down to money in the end, and protecting one's commercial interests. And this, more often than not comes from big companies and record labels who aren't fighting for the protection of creative material, but for the money they may lose if someone copies it. You don't see a garage band launching a class action law suit against a rival band, you may instead see some sledging or innapropriate posts on their Facebook page. Not that i'm saying it couldn't happen.

In terms of copyright infringement on music, it's the record companies who are taking charge and suing others, because, in effect, they're protecting their income. The IP no longer belongs to the artist, but to the company. Maybe the labels are being a little dramatic in saying that their sales are dropping considerably because of music piracy, but to be honest, i think they just need to update their business model.