One can take a balanced position on this without going to either extreme. American companies have certainly abused the patent and copyright system by allowing p

One can take a balanced position on this without going to either extreme. American companies have certainly abused the patent and copyright system by allowing patents to last for far too long and cover too much. Likewise copyrights have been applied for too long time periods. Yet I don't think the solution to this problem is to abandoned both systems completely. Rather copyright period should be shortened, and patents should cover less and last for a shorter time. Right now the system is not setup to support innovation and creation but rather to act as cash cow for big corporations.