I think you have a massive free-rider problem with your proposal though. The Noun Project requires that you pay them or put attributions on the work. They would

I think you have a massive free-rider problem with your proposal though. The Noun Project requires that you pay them or put attributions on the work. They would not be able to do this without IP protections, so most companies would use the free version. Not only that, but other companies would take their icons and use them to build their own catalogues. This would leave no one to pay for the creation of the icons. > I don't see how trying to create an artificial barrier around something is sustainable A world where no one can be paid to create work is not sustainable. IP is the backbone that makes all of this possible, due to the free rider problem. > photographing on a commission from a client that needs a new photo of something This does happen, but then the client gets exclusive rights to the photos they paid for. But under your world, this is impossible. Their competitors can just take the material without paying for it. This applies not just to photography of course, but to everything they create.