Copyrights and Patents

After we watched the movie about Girl Talk the class has a discussion about copyrights and patents and what type of time line there should be before someone can use your idea.  When talking about music I do not see why there needs to be copyrights.  Music has a history of building on itself.  A lot of music has been built on the base of jazz, blues, and folk.  My thoughts on music is that eveyone should be able to experiment with songs and make it their own, build upon the past without having to worry about stepping on someone's toes because they are using a piece of their music.  We also started to talk about new technology and how long their patents should last.  When it comes to medical technology I do not think that there should be a lot of time allowed to sit on a patent without trying to do anything with it.  There is a need to build upon the new technology to make better technology.  In order to do this someone should not be able to sit on a patent that they are not trying to advance.  But here is where it gets tricky because I think if they are actually trying to do something with it then maybe there should not be a time limit on it that runs out quickly.  Coming up with a policy that allows people to take credit for their work but also lets other people build upon the work can be a difficult process, but I think eventually we will be able to come up with something that benefits the majority of people.