Wow

Today I heard my husband reply to someone..."Well, the guy who owns the rights to Shakespeare would sue." This made me see how ingrained the idea of ownership of creative works is. We believe that all works are owned and we do not have the right to creatively derive anything legally. I wonder how far this belief, and in some cases misunderstanding of the law, has gone to stifle creativity. Do we even believe in the public domain any more? Corporations have done a good job enculturating us to believe that every creative idea is owned by someone. The fact that they are also getting the law to back them up makes me even more fearful for the future of free speech and creativity.