The French would disagree with this. They have single handedly foisted on the world ever longer copyrights since the 19th century. I don't know why the French are this way, but given that they have invented croissants, mayonaisse and champagne, I'm inclined to believe them.
You shouldn't love them too much for their croissants, as those were blatantly copied from the Austrians, who created the croissant's predecessor, known as the 'Kipferl', which - after being introduced by a Viennese into the Parisian society - was copied by French 'viennoiseries' and became the croissant. Luckily - for them - intellectual property protection wasn't going havoc in the 1830s, yet.
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And it should be the law: If you use the word `paradigm' without knowing what the dictionary says it means, you go to jail. No exceptions. -- David Jones
