You may be referring to patents.
The simple answer is, without patents, no entity has incentive to invest in a new technology.
I make 100$, spend 80$ on materials, labor, overheads, rent etc... and out of the 20$ I keep 10$ for porn and invest 10$ in new technology.
This new technology will give me a competitive advantage. If everyone else has instant access to this new technology...then basically they just free ride.
Patents are short lived compared to copyright.
There is the common ground.
Eventually new technology needs to be..."circulated" for the common good.
I cant agree that its just bits and bytes. It is sweat, work. Investment. time.
But I do agree that after a while (cant define while) it needs to expire.
And, if it was not for emulators, Nintendo would not give a shit about their old stuff. I bet Nintendo does not even have the library I have in my own hard drive of old Nintendo games.
Coming up with a new mathematical formula is also sweat work investment and time. Sometimes it is a while life's work. One isn't cheaper than the other but only one is protected.
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