The copyright clause has nothing to do with copyright

SapphireSpire said:

Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution states:

[Congress shall have the power] "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."

It makes no mention of patents or copyright or ownership therefore it does NOT give Congress the power to grant patents or copyright or to create and protect intellectual property.

While the ownership of property necessitates, and therefore implies, an exclusive right to that property, an exclusive right to something does not necessitate ownership and therefore does not necessitate or imply that the something over which a person has an exclusive right be regarded as their property.

When a person has an exclusive right to something, granted by Congress, nobody else can use it. Since nobody else can use it, that person cannot share it or give it away or sell it or license it. The only way to obtain the right to share, gift, or sell that thing is to wave the exclusive right to it. In doing so, they permit everyone else to do the same.

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