The major meta-issue at hand here is the problem of thinking that property has a definition in the first place. We intuitively think of property in the sense of personal possessions, which works some of the time, but is quite inaccurate for the majority of properties:
The way in which I own my business is different from the way I own my house, which is different from the way I own my car, which is different from the way I own my dog, which is different from the way I own my computer, which is different from the way I own the information contained on my computer. All of these forms entail restrictions on the rights of others beside me as regards the property, but what these restrictions are vary. Thinking that any of the rights entailed by any of these forms of property necessarily has an analogue in any of the other forms will likely get me into trouble-- save perhaps the fact that any form of property must be able to be transferred to another entity by my sole consent.
Confounding this is the fact that there exists another class of things which are not property nor possessions, but which are nonetheless mine; for example, I neither own nor possess my apartment, but it remains my apartment in a real, legal sense.
So I feel addressing these issues as a question of "is this/should this be property" is putting the cart before the horse. The real, implicit question is, do the rights entailed (or rather restricted) by the relevant statutes pose a benefit, or a harm to our society?
That is the only way to have a productive conversation about intellectual property as adults interested in advancing the arts and sciences rather than as elementary schoolchildren arguing about who "stole" whose idea.
It would be great "to have a productive conversation about intellectual property as adults interested in advancing the arts and sciences" but property rights have always come down to enabling making a living. Artists and scientists until a few hundred years ago had patrons to support their work or were independently well-off to begin with. Only when mass dissemination of art or the products of science became possible did it start to make sense to argue over property rights to these "goods".
I agree with pg that property rights and what is considered property change slowly. These rights have been quite well entrenched in most agricultural and, later, industrial societies.
For example, the first Google link to "property rights in the bible" leads to http://www.keyway.ca/htm2009/20090328.htm, which lists a number of Old Testament property considerations including theft, damage of goods, damage to sold property, etc. It appears these property rights were detailed and established, and extended also (it's to the link's detriment these aren't mentioned) one's wife, the wives of deceased brothers, children, servants/slaves, buildings, debts, etc.
These Old Testament laws gave way to or were aggregated with laws adopted from conquerers of O.T. Israel -- Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. These laws usually reflected a balance between benefiting those in power, the "good of society", and individual property rights (to enable a reasonably prosperous society, even for conquered peoples).
Attempts at massive overhaul of property rights have been attempted in the last century, leading to not-very-spectacular results. Incremental changes are best, I believe. And "rule of law" at its most basic comes down to property rights.
The way in which I own my business is different from the way I own my house, which is different from the way I own my car, which is different from the way I own my dog, which is different from the way I own my computer, which is different from the way I own the information contained on my computer. All of these forms entail restrictions on the rights of others beside me as regards the property, but what these restrictions are vary. Thinking that any of the rights entailed by any of these forms of property necessarily has an analogue in any of the other forms will likely get me into trouble-- save perhaps the fact that any form of property must be able to be transferred to another entity by my sole consent.
Confounding this is the fact that there exists another class of things which are not property nor possessions, but which are nonetheless mine; for example, I neither own nor possess my apartment, but it remains my apartment in a real, legal sense.
So I feel addressing these issues as a question of "is this/should this be property" is putting the cart before the horse. The real, implicit question is, do the rights entailed (or rather restricted) by the relevant statutes pose a benefit, or a harm to our society?
That is the only way to have a productive conversation about intellectual property as adults interested in advancing the arts and sciences rather than as elementary schoolchildren arguing about who "stole" whose idea.