Intellectual Property, Fee or Free?

Abstract

Has the world really changed in the last three centuries? There is an abundance of information and bringing the public onto the internet has certainly brought a new boom to the technology sector, but has it changed our values for using another's creative works?After the Internet went public in 1995, easy access to data and images brought a shiftin the value of information. Instead of being a shared resource for academics, researchers, and government workers, anyone able to buy or use a connection to the network was able to share and contribute to the wealth of information that was accumulating in cyberspace. Over a very short time span, new interfaces for accessing the data were developed. The original culture of the Internet was one of and open access; this mind set continued as more people became connected. The Web software advancements made it easy to move text and graphics from one location to another and to download music, videos, and eBooks. Until very recently, little thought was given to purchasing the right to use materials posted to the Web. Free became an accepted norm for a vast majority of users. This sharing was fun. The amount of labor that originally went into creating the work that was being forwarded, posted, or repackaged was not considered. The idea that someone should get paid for the content being used did not enter most users' minds. The common perception was that it was there for anyone to use, a concept from earlier days when the Internet was a closed system accessed primarily by scholars openly their work. But there is a shifttaking place that holds the basic ideology that first brought copyright into existence.Now that the medium is established as another avenue of free market trading and entrepreneurship, the struggle to protect how one's original, creative work is being used and to extract revenue from that work, i.e., intellectual property rights, is resurfacing. A new appreciation for the need for an author or artist to be able to support him or herself through creative works is reemerging to challenge the viewpoint of those who believe that there is no originality, that all creativity comes from community activity, implying that each has an obligation to share those results, without cost, with everyone. Each view is a moral stand on freedom for the individual balanced against the needs of the community.Electronic access and social media have brought millions of creative people onto the scene who do not need the revenue or do not consider that using another's work as taking away someone's paycheck because everything is free and available to share if it's on the Internet. The battle may not have had its roots in the first mass printings with the invention of the printing press, but that era did struggle to find common ground between the concept of ownership for intellectual property based on the premise that originality exists and those who hold the opinion that originality is not possible because all ideas are based on the ideas of others and cannot be owned. There are many positives on each side of the issue of intellectual property and intellectual freedom. For example, being paid for the ideas and effort put into writing, composing, and artistic works is laudable and has the potential to inspire new works from that individual. Our society shows that something is of value by the monetary price the item has been given and the recognition given to the individual who created the work. Centuries have shown the importance for profit in freeing individuals to pursue their own passions. There is also value in mass distribution of works as a means to educate and inspire others to create. Originality, if there is such a possibility, stresses the importance of bringing information from a variety of sources and viewpoints and applying that knowledge to a new realm or problem; building on the knowledge of others is encouraged. It has value in our society. Today's electronic medium has provided an opportunity to blend building on the works of others to share with the community and creating original works to generate income. …