A new book by two economists entitled "Against intellectual monopoly" argues that copyrights and patents actually serve primarily to stifle innovation and creativity, rather than encourage it as it is supposed to.[Michele] Boldrin, the Joseph Gibson Hoyt Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences and Chair of the economics department says, "Intellectual property is in fact an intellectual monopoly that hinders rather than helps the competitive free market regime that has delivered wealth and innovation to our doorsteps."
And just in time to prove the point, here's an article about how thousands of doctors are having their patients sign agreements giving the doctors copyright over any online reviews the patients make of those doctors, giving the doctors standing to sue MD review sites. Is that abuse of copyright or what?
In the meantime, publishers are suing Amazon over the reading-aloud feature on its new Kindle e-book reader, claiming that reading a book aloud violates copyright, a surprise to all parents everywhere.
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