Re: @JaitcH: When you die...
That's a little bit of a straw man response to my argument, considering that we were discussing the act of copying, not the act of stealing.
If we are to take the analogy in the direction you suggest:
- You crafting a wheel out of some wood and stone you found = Not free, it's yours.
- Me watching how you did it crafting a wheel out of some wood and stone I found (copying you) = Not free, it's mine.
- Me crafting a machine that can skip all that hard work and spit out 100 wheels per 1 wheel you make with all that hard work = not free, mine + progress and innovation.
It's progress and innovation that copyright by it's nature, tries to limit and slow down. Of course, when we're talking about inventing wheels we may as well be talking about patents, but it's an analogy describing the same effect when we apply it to the internet, digital files, second-hand sales, mash-ups, cover performance etc...
Tell me, where would be the incentive for me to invent the wheel crafting machine if I was informed beforehand that you 'owned' the idea of the wheel and therefore I'd have to pay you every time I wanted to use my machine?
Since we're imagining there being no government - there's no one to tell me but you - and I'm going to laugh and say how can you own something that I made?
I doubt human progress would have come as far as it did if the idea of "intellectual property" had existed from the beginning.
So how do you now make money on your wheel?
Well, chances are you really made the wheel because you felt passionate about wheels and it was really useful to you. It's only when other people saw the value of copying it that you started thinking about it's value. However some people may also find the value in purchasing an authentic wheel hand-crafted by you - the original wheel creator - there will always be a market for that.