Allan Ashinoff wrote: "What concerns me greatly is the lack of true copy protection. I've published two eBooks via Amazon. On several occasions I have identified websites giving away digital copies of my work. Sure, they backed down once I contact them and inform them of my copyright but had I not found them they would have continued."
How would this work if this were LAND? So, the police in your town know all about you - because they followed you on Twitter and with drone cameras - and while you are out fishing, they see someone in your garage, so they pull up and blow the SOB away to protect your property rights. Wow... maybe in an ideal world... But I am afraid that they just killed the neighbor boy who mows your lawn.

So, really, it is up to you to put up your fences and locks. If there is a violation, then you call the police. They then seek out the perpetrator.

In this case, you find your book on the FreeCopyiesRightNow.com website and inform... whom?... I have no idea.

I mentioned here having two instances of people taking my material. One was a national publisher - Defense Computing of the Cahners Group - and I used moral suasion on the editor to get back a hundred (shadowed) clams.

But you are in a totally different situation. It is really more like you have a publishing house and at night someone comes in and steals copies of the books in their shipping crates and then sells them (or gives them away: makes no difference).

So, you really have to be assertive. Maybe we need a defensive agency for that, a private police force that will take your claim to the perpetrator and extract some kind of recompensation or failing that, call in the hackers to shut them down. But that path leads to anarchy. So, I have no easy solution here and now.

As a construct for the long term, it would seem that rather than schools and parks the government would provide police powers to the copyright office. That is what you are asking for, is it not?

Firstly, I am not a patent attorney but live and work for one. He says:
The question is incorrect. "objective needs of inventors" is completely irrelevant. Not the way one would expect an Objectivist to frame a conversation. The question should be "what are the RIGHTS of an inventor?" Not their needs.
Patent law like all property law is based on the law recognizing the metaphysical reality of creation. Patents are property rights.
What is an invention is. An invention is a human creation that has an objective result. This differentiates from songs, paintings, writings, which have an artistic or subjective result.
Anything that is an invention is patentable subject matter. Now, let us define software. Software is a way of wiring an electronic circuit. It is not a mathematical algorithm. Electronic circuits do not exist separate from Man. therefore, they are human creations. Software-enabled inventions are clearly patentable.
COPYRIGHTS FOR AN AUTHOR: Author's life plus 70 years. BUT a work made for hire is 95 years period. SEPARATE from the author.

good information. Thanks

Copyscape lets you search for copies of your own work online
http://www.copyscape.com/

This might also be helpful. It provides more tools
http://plagiarism.bloomfieldmedia.com/z-...
"Software for Detecting Plagiarism
"WCopyfind is an open source windows-based program that explores a collection of documents, looking for matching language. If you have a collection of documents that you think might contain plagiarized content, you can check them quickly with this free software."

Long ago, I read about a program like this that was written by a professor of computer programming. He theorized (correctly) that even in a beginning class with the simplest assignments, no two people will create similar programs.

I agree that many things can be done to improve the patent system, it has become altered and now poorly functioning as a property right system. This is my husband's expertise and he could speak for hours on these topics. Check out his blog: hallingblog.com State of Innovation. He has written a book, as well. We have a novel coming out in a few weeks that illustrates some of these problems. Check out my profile.
Now I will respond practically. There are two situations as an inventor whose patent is being infringed and does not have means to carry out a lawsuit. If you not have at least 2-3 Million of provable damages, there is little to do but sending threatening letters. (a function of the federal court system and not specific to patent law). If You do have that much in damages, then you can get help from a contingency fee firm or a non-practicing entity (aka troll). This is why these groups exist.

In every property right, one must be willing to enforce. Like land you have, you do not visit, and someone builds upon it. You must be vigilant in all cases. Note: People always act as though a patent or property right is like a govt monopoly say a utility company. In fact, it is private and in order to enforce, you have to file a civil lawsuit which is not true of a utility company enforcing its "monopoly."

A cup of coffee and I'll overlook it. LOL

No worries.

ok, don't accuse me of copyright violations that I strategically used "Karen Enders" to make a point around here. I was inviting questions so I could answer.

Although I agree much can be done to improve the patent/copyright laws. I think a bigger problem is how does one defend his or hers patent from those who steal your product or innovation? If he/she is small time innovator, they probably do not have the money to get the lawyers to chase down the crooks.

Overall, I have to say yes. Existing copyright law allows for damages to be levied if someone uses your works without permission. Unfortunately the law does fall short in this digital age.

What concerns me greatly is the lack of true copy protection. I've published two eBooks via Amazon. On several occasions I have identified websites giving away digital copies of my work. Sure, they backed down once I contact them and inform them of my copyright but had I not found them they would have continued.

Although I have the copyright over all my materials I still have no control over it being duplicated or given away despite my copyright and DRM (digital rights management). It's far too simple to locate the documents folder on a Kindle (or other ereader) and copy and paste a book to another location or to give it to someone else.