For the first several thousand years of human development, copying was natural. Copying was necessary.

A human would invent the sharpened stone, giving him or her an advantage in the hunting or skinning of an animal, and other members of their tribe would copy this idea. Soon another tribe would see those humans using the sharpened stone and that tribe, too, would copy the idea. Stories would be created and shared with others who would in turn share the stories with others still. Along the way, as copies were made of the stone and the story, they would be refined – stone knives or spears and better stories.

Jump ahead to a few hundred years ago. The ideas of copyrights and patents were created to help other creators make money from their creations, with the idea that after the expiration of the term of their ownership of the idea, it would then belong to everyone.

It was mutually beneficial – the creator would be able to make money, and the public would have full access to the ideas. These ideas also spread. These ideas were also refined.

Unfortunately, as more and more creative products were created for corporations, this refinement took a nasty turn. The ownership of ideas no longer benefited the creator, but instead the creator’s employer. The length of time that the ownership of an idea can be held has become virtually indefinite as corporations such as Disney (who have gained much of their success from adapting classic fairy tales) lobbied the government to extend copyrights.

The entertainment industry in particular has abused these laws to the extent that virtually nothing of any cultural significance created after 1922 can be used by new creators. They’ve used scare tactics and the full wrath of their legal teams to keep a stranglehold on our culture in order to squeeze every last penny out of everything that they could claim ownership to.

From Gutenberg to Led Zeppelin to Marvel Comics, artists copy other artists. They take old, or even new, ideas and improve them, making them their own.

Intellectual property laws violate our freedom of speech, granting privileges to the few while restricting the masses’ ability to communicate and create.

Copying is not stealing. Copying is copying. And, while it may be illegal (hopefully only for now), it certainly isn’t wrong. It’s normal, natural and one of the quickest ways for society to advance.