SpicyIP,
Has for its readers,
A post so unique,
Don’t miss it, we plead!
A poem on property and on greed,
A poem on existential realities!
We are pleased to bring to our readers a lovely poem written by Dr. Raman Mittal. Dr. Mittal teaches at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi.
The Delicate Balance
Man was a hunter and when he started to gather
Law and property were then born together
When was it? It’s not in my memory’s lather
We know it riding only on imagination’s feather
When things were available in nature for free
Then they belonged to the marauder’s spree
To avoid the disputes being decided by blood
The norm of ownership then sprouted like a little bud
From movable to immovable the bud continued to grow
Things then belonged to the sweat of the brow
Man’s labour was the subject then to protect
To own more became a matter of respect
Limited were the things created with labour
But man wanted to own more than his neighbor
Intellectual creations were added to the list
Man then wanted to capture whole world in his fist
When ‘exclusive’ was the genre of all his right
Drunk he became with the wine of his might
Bothered he was not about the people’s plight
Who would then give the mighty a fight?
To transmute to order from such a chaos
‘Public interest’ soon came across
Though one is still permitted to own
But of sharing you cannot now be shorn
As the people’s lawyer laid bare this plea
It were the masses who shouted out with glee
But wait! Are we not approaching the same old spree?
Where all things were set just for free
Public interest came as a gift to wonder
But even this can verily become a plunder
Is it in man’s destiny to go round and round?
And continue eternally with the same old wound?
Owning and sharing must go hand in hand
For expression, for invention and also for that famous brand
Striking this balance is like playing with glass
Delicate it remains even for the men of class
~ Raman Mittal
4 comments.
A poem penned so simply, and yet capturing the essence of IP with ease. My compliments to the poet.
Poem in the beginning was the cutest.
Evolution of IP is well portrayed.
Nice Poem !!