Ideas and their implementations, including software, are not private goods. Nonetheless, the current copyright system basically pretends otherwise; that supposing that something that is not nonetheless is leads to absurd results should be unsurprising.
Ideas are not rival in consumption and are therefore not private goods, nor does the implementation of an idea prevent re-implementation of it by someone else. They are also of questionable excludability.
Or one can use a definition of a private good and see if ideas/implementations fit it. Result: copyable products can be artificially made excludable by DRM and copyright enforcement, but they are non-subtractable. If anything, this indicates that the notion of a private/public good needs a revision.
Ideas and their implementations, including software, are not private goods. Nonetheless, the current copyright system basically pretends otherwise; that supposing that something that is not nonetheless is leads to absurd results should be unsurprising.
Downvoted for unfounded claim. I can just as easyly assert that ideas and their implementation are private goods.
Ideas are not rival in consumption and are therefore not private goods, nor does the implementation of an idea prevent re-implementation of it by someone else. They are also of questionable excludability.
Or one can use a definition of a private good and see if ideas/implementations fit it. Result: copyable products can be artificially made excludable by DRM and copyright enforcement, but they are non-subtractable. If anything, this indicates that the notion of a private/public good needs a revision.