The original purpose of IP laws are an agreement with society that the author would get a temporary monopoly (including legal protection) in exchange donating i

The original purpose of IP laws are an agreement with society that the author would get a temporary monopoly (including legal protection) in exchange donating it society after a reasonable amount of time. The alternative is keeping it a trade secret, which can restrict what you can do with your idea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright