I am delighted at how many people are up to read a fic about copyright!
Agreed; the system we see in the novel is (somewhat) analogous to trade secrets when it comes to proprietary sect techniques. The downsides to that are that (a) benefit accrues entirely on a sect level, so rogue cultivators essentially can't profit from anything they develop, and (b) fewer people are able to make use of the techniques; a copyright system, on the other hand, allows licensing, which would ameliorate both issues.
(I'm focusing exclusively on talismans, because the analogy to software copyright is fairly straightforward; techniques would be a little different.)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2022-08-09 12:12 am (UTC)Agreed; the system we see in the novel is (somewhat) analogous to trade secrets when it comes to proprietary sect techniques. The downsides to that are that (a) benefit accrues entirely on a sect level, so rogue cultivators essentially can't profit from anything they develop, and (b) fewer people are able to make use of the techniques; a copyright system, on the other hand, allows licensing, which would ameliorate both issues.
(I'm focusing exclusively on talismans, because the analogy to software copyright is fairly straightforward; techniques would be a little different.)