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Copying ("not diminishing supply") is ok, here's why

You reference Einstein's pfennig quote with "If I steal your bicycle, now you have no bicycle; if I copy your computer program, now we both have it." That's great. It's great to share knowledge if you want to. It's also great if I have a very interesting and innovative idea, thought, method of creation, talent, etc. which I believe is, as Drucker puts it "of value to the customer," from which I ought to be able to profit, if I so choose. If you copy my formula for a new type of metal, my warehouse management algorithms, my recording of my performance, my story about a magical boy, or my jambalaya recipe, then yes, I still have it. Supply of these copyable works is not diminished, and I should be happy, because I still have my creative works. I'm not harmed, am I? You haven't lobotomized me, erased my hard drives, stole my files, or anything that would destroy my knowledge of my intellectual works.

Of course, now that you have my knowledge, which I acquired through an investment of my time and/or money, I should be happy when you begin to profit off my investment of money, knowledge, experience, or talent as well, whether or not you put my name on it. Your foundries, your big stores, your music sharing service, your bookstore, your corner restaurant are free to use my investment for your gain. What's wrong with that? You have not diminished my supply of product, have you? So, everything must be ok? Right? Since I sold my metal to my customers, created an efficient infrastructure that delivered value with low overhead which allowed me to pass savings to my customers, offered my recordings in the way and quality I deemed appropriate, entertained many with my writing, or always had a packed restaurant with people lining up for my jambalaya, I will continue to do so, right?

You will have your own customers, which have no overlap with mine, right? There are plenty of customers to go around, right? The supply of customers is not diminshed, right? So everyone will be happy, because demand is infinite, right? Just because you start selling something based on my works, and assuming you are competent enough to understand my works and implement them, you won't cut into my supply of customers, right? If you put my name on it, but weren't quite capable of producing at my level of quality, I shouldn't be concerned, should I? The customer won't be concerned, as long as they know it's from me. They'll know because it has my name on it, even though they didn't buy it from me, that what they have is exactly what I intended them to buy.

It's all very clear to me now. You didn't take my bicycle - I still have it. You copied my ideas to provide value to customers in a particular market - I still have my ideas - you did not take them away from me. The market which values my ideas, and will pay a fair price for them, is now cut in half for me, because now there are two suppliers (me and you) where before there was just one (me). Just because you didn't reproduce it at the level I expect and demand, that won't have an effect on the fair price, will it? Especially not for my items, nor my future items. Indeed, neither supply nor quality nor reputation has not been dimished at all. That's a good thing, right? Of course I will be very happy to share my profits from my works which are of value to my customer market with you. It really is very clear. There's no reason at all to protect intellectual works, nor the methods of distribution.

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