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jjtheblunt11/21/20241 replyview on HN

It predates America:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright#History


Replies

PrismCrystal11/21/2024

Obviously. But HN is American-dominated, and the Copyright Clause in the Constitution and the original length of 14 years, are what most people are likely to think of when it is mentioned that copyright used to be a short monopoly to spur the arts and sciences. In modern scholarship, where progress is continual and scholars hail from countries that have differing degrees of access to paid resources, any monopoly for any length of time is harmful.