ABSTRACT
Intellectual property was never easy. Unlike property you can walk upon or hold in your hand, information has no physical existence other than in its material containers or embodiments. And although purchase of a material container of information can be straightforward, the impact of that economic transaction on the information within is usually quite the opposite. The price you pay for the purchase of a book or CD or computer disk entitles you only to use the information-you have in effect paid to rent that information for as long as you like-and not to sell it to someone else, as you might with a piece of land or a car or even a suit of clothes. This is because you do not own the information-only its container.
