It has become the practice to claim copyright protection for virtually every piece of ÔwritingÕ
or its electronic equivalent, created by knowledge professionals Ñ from business
plans for a start-up company to the instruction manual for use of a motorized saw and to
specifications for pipeline tenders.
This paper posits that the legal doctrine of copyright was never intended, and is not
equipped, to regulate the very building block of our society-information. When used to
protect utilitarian information products (UIW) en masse, copyright can impede the flow
of information necessary for innovation, foster waste in the form of redundant creation
and adversely impact competition in the market.