'Otherwise known as the "I want to do X, therefore X should be legal" school of legal thinking.' You mean like "I want a monopoly, therefore monopolies should

'Otherwise known as the "I want to do X, therefore X should be legal" school of legal thinking.' You mean like "I want a monopoly, therefore monopolies should be legal. Also, I should have police powers to enforce my monopoly: search people's computers, shut down their internet access, make accusations based on flimsy evidence like IP addresses, and presume guilt rather than innocence." Like that? I mean, if society were a roomful of people, and someone stood up and suggested that, would you nod and agree? I'm not saying copyright isn't a useful tool for society to encourage creation of works, but it does need to be balanced with other things. Not least is the fact that it hinders the creation of derivative works. This argument is even stronger in the realm of patents.