via Everything is a Remix (Part 4) by Kirby Ferguson

…This is social evolution.

Copy, transform and combine. It’s who we are, it’s how we live, and of course, it’s how we create. Our new ideas evolve from the old ones.

But our system of law doesn’t acknowledge the derivative nature of creativity. Instead, ideas are regarded as property, as unique and original lots with distinct boundaries.

But ideas aren’t so tidy. They’re layered, they’re interwoven, they’re tangled. And when the system conflicts with the reality… the system starts to fail…

I cuckoo for cocoa-puffs over this series. Part 4 in particular deals with the original intent of Copyright and Patents to the bastardization of today’s IP turf wars and companies only in existence to sue over ideas. A certain owner of the Dallas Maverick’s often echoes many of these same sentiments.