> In real life, that could get you arrested for counterfeiting merchandise.
The
> manufacturer worked hard to develop that car!
That's not quite right. There are trademark laws; you could get in trouble
for trying to pass of a car you built as one of Toyota's cars, but that's a
different issue. The purpose of trademark law is to make it clear to
customers what they're buying; if you claim the car you built was a Toyota
car, you would be deceiving someone.
> But here's where the difference between software and real life comes in:
> software takes little to no effort to copy. If copying cars were as easy as
> copying software, the equivalent would be magically setting up a car
> manufacturing facility in your house, cranking out cars identical to yours,
> and giving them away free — or for a higher price than the original
> manufacturer charges.
Information, such as programs or creative works, can never be compared to
physical goods. Physical goods cannot be copied without cost. You yourself
mentioned this. This means that the business of selling copies of a creative
work is artificial. It always has been, in fact, but when the printing press
was the predominant method of copying (when copyright was invented). Note
that copyright, an artificial monopoly which is frankly obsolete, is all that
prevents commercial distribution of anything; nobody prevents you from making
money selling copies of Shakespeare's work, nor should they.
