What does intelectual property mean in this era?

[boody]

imho the biggest problem is that all the discussions about the current situation in the music bizz are infiltrated with random observations put into some context whenever it looks convenient. Like ' but it is striking how many of the top-grossing acts began in the pre digital era, and how much of today’s music is a mash-up of the old.' suggests the recycling of music is due to the digital era. But 100 years ago the 'fin de siecle' effect was exactly the same as now: composers mainly looked back for inspiration. It took a couple of years for a new way of looking at music to sink in, same as I expect to happen now.

The biggest question I'm struggling with is 'What is intelectual property in this era?'. Everybody knows what it means and all have been well documented, but isn't a 'new idea' best described as 'an original way of looking at/thinking about an existing reality which leads to 'fresh' (avoiding the word 'new' here) use of existing concepts, leading to newer concepts. So, arguably, an original idea is never 'that' original to begin with, just building on on what's already there. The analogy with sampling comes to mind.

So where are we now? What does the recent technology mean for the good old 'patent' from which intellectual property was derived? Until what point can we demand cash for our ideas? Should an idea be paid for? What is reasonable? Or is originality overrated since all ideas are heavily depending on others anyway?