Chapter: Is Copyright Ethical? An Examination of the Theories, Laws, and Practices Regarding the Private Ownership of Intellectual Work in the United States

Quote:

To provide a basis for this examination, some varying constructions of rights, property, and intellectual property will be presented along with a brief history of copyright in the United States. The copyright legislation passed by 105^th Congress will be discussed as well as some current international aspects of intellectual property. Then, with both theory and practice at hand, we will proceed to the ethical examination. Sadly we will be unable to reach a conclusion on whether all aspects of intellectual property are the matter of ethics, but we will have found that copyright in the United States is an economic regime that pays homage to ethics only when it wishes to invoke a higher ground than economic damages for reasons to obey the copyright law.

What I expect to learn:

To differentiate whether copyright theories or not

Review:                    

After reading this chapter, I realized that are different sides that we need to consider for considering whether or not copyright is ethical.

As someone who is fond of using sources online, I do find citing my resources time consuming and somewhat useless because most people don’t go online to look at it anyway because they will rather search in a search engine themselves than type a long url in the browser from my paper. I know I am looking at the issue blindly but I have to admit, most people find sourcing their resources is nonsense.

My stand on this is yes it is tedious to cite but it is necessary to point out your source because it is a way of thanking the author that their work is essential and it helped you in some way. It is respect to the source of your idea because that way, you acknowledge their great contribution in whatever it is you are producing. I suppose typing down a formal citation would not be as hard as going to the author personally and thanking them by bringing a pack of fruits and chocolates right? So why not just cite your resources, by that way, you pay respect, give thanks and acknowledge their work.

What I learned:

·         Brief Definition

·         The rights

·         The origins of those rights

·         Property rights

·         Theories of intellectual property and copyright

·         History of copyright in the United States

·         Limitations of copyright

·         Ethical manner of copyright

Integrative Questions:            

1.    What is a copyright?

2.    Enumerate the rights of copyrighting.

3.    What is the origin of copyright?

4.    What are the theories of intellectual property?

5.    State the history of copyright in the US.