> IP doesn't (I think) and shouldn't ever stop you from doing whatever you want for yourself. I can infringe all the patents I want if I'm using my matter and e

> IP doesn't (I think) and shouldn't ever stop you from doing whatever you want for yourself. I can infringe all the patents I want if I'm using my matter and energy to make stuff myself. When it becomes commerce, that's when the government steps in. Whether IP should stop you from doing things for yourself is of course a matter of opinion. But the brute fact is that, in the U.S. and most of the rest of the world, IP laws do indeed prohibit you from doing a great many things for yourself, without regard to whether "commerce" is involved. (You may be thinking of the Commerce Clause of article I of the U.S. Constitution, whereas the congressional power to enact patent- and copyright laws derive from a separate provision, the Writings and Discoveries Clause, also in article I.) For example: - Patents prohibit you from, among other things, making or using the patented invention, unless you have permission of the patent owner. There are no exceptions for personal use. As a practical matter a patent owner might not bother coming after someone practicing a patent invention "for himself," but your definition of the quoted term might be different from the patent owner's definition. - Copyright law prohibits you from making or distributing copies of a copyrighted work; from creating "derivative works" based on the original work; and from publicly performing or -displaying the work (among other things). There's an exception for "fair use," but as many college students have expensively learned courtesy of the RIAA, you might not want to roll the dice on that.