This Blog Is Full Of Crap

Look, in my view, the answer is pretty simple: Alfred Mosher Butts is long dead.

At least one generation has passed since his invention went public. Probably three.

When does something truly become public domain?

Chess, Checkers, Backgammon... these games are ancient in origin, sure, but at some point we came up with the concept that the rules for a game became something someone owned and could license.

Sure, I'm oversimplifying things, but I think there's only so long one can protect the legitimate rights of intellectual property before it stymies society's ability to progress or express itself freely.

How long that period should be, well, certainly long enough for the inventor or artist to benefit, but not long, say, for their grandchildren to watch a corporation spend a fraction of the revenue generated by that invention on lawyers to harass people vastly improving that original concept.