Uh, isn't Fred Canadian? Kind of makes ranting about the US welfare system a bit pointless since it has little relevance to bitching about Fred or DomWar
You're right to say you can't copyright or own "an idea". Usually. You can as you noted patent inventions, which are sort of like ideas, but it's not all-encompassing to ideas of any sort. I can draw a picture of a red frog jumping over a farmhouse, and while I do then have the rights to that picture - someone else could…