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tptacek on Jan 3, 2011 | parent | context | favorite | on: What Could Have Been Entering the Public Domain on...

That's easy: the patent covers the whole idea and precludes whole avenues of further exploration. Copyright only covers a single expression of an idea.

ajays on Jan 3, 2011 [–]

Then how do you explain the fact that people get sued for "lifting" just a few seconds off a track?

Consider this latest case: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8497433.stm

Having listened to both the songs, I can honestly say they are nothing alike. And yet Men At Work got sued some 20 years later for "infringement".

tptacek on Jan 3, 2011 | [–]

No, I won't.

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