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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  3515 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Trans-Pacific Partnership suggests Obama has no sense of irony

Because no one created anything before the Statute of Anne.





galen  ·  3515 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Before the Statute of Anne there was a system of patronage under which artists were still paid for their work.

user-inactivated  ·  3515 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yes, they were paid for their work just like any other worker. It was not necessary to be able to collect rent on the product of that work indefinitely. That's the more common case now too; it's publishers who derive significant income from licensing, and publishers are quickly becoming irrelevant.