St. Augustine on Copyright and Patent laws

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There is this famous quote from Augustine of Hippo about sharing things: “For if a thing is not diminished by being shared with others, it is not rightly owned if it is only owned and not shared.” (source).

Am I right to understand that copyright and patent laws are therefore incompatible with Catholic doctrine?
 
His sentences are a bit dense, so I added in a few extra paragraph breaks to help separate out the thoughts. So, let’s ascertain his meaning, shall we? 😉
There are two things on which all interpretation of Scripture depends: the mode of ascertaining the proper meaning, and the mode of making known the meaning when it is ascertained.

We shall treat first of the mode of ascertaining, next of the mode of making known, the meaning; a great and arduous undertaking, and one that, if difficult to carry out, it is, I fear, presumptuous to enter upon.

And presumptuous it would undoubtedly be, if I were counting on my own strength; but since my hope of accomplishing the work rests on Him who has already supplied me with many thoughts on this subject, I do not fear but that He will go on to supply what is yet wanting when once I have begun to use what He has already given.

For a possession which is not diminished by being shared with others, if it is possessed and not shared, is not yet possessed as it ought to be possessed.

The Lord saith, “Whosoever has, to him shall be given.”

He will give, then, to those who have; that is to say, if they use freely and cheerfully what they have received, He will add to and perfect His gifts.

The loaves in the miracle were only five and seven in number before the disciples began to divide them among the hungry people.

But when once they began to distribute them, though the wants of so many thousands were satisfied, they filled baskets with the fragments that were left.

Now, just as that bread increased in the very act of breaking it, so those thoughts which the Lord has already vouchsafed to me with a view to undertaking this work will, as soon as I begin to impart them to others, be multiplied by His grace, so that, in this very work of distribution in which I have engaged, so far from incurring loss and poverty, I shall be made to rejoice in a marvellous increase of wealth.
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A few lessons:

(1) An isolated quote of a Church Father - even a highly venerated father like Augustine - does not ipso facto result in that quote being Catholic doctrine. Many Church Fathers, in fact, believed in some rather unusual and fruity things.

(2) Never take an isolated quote out of context. Augustine here is referring to the sharing of charismata, gifts bestowed by God. In his case, Augustine refers to gifts of interpretation, reading and analysis.

(3) Never assume that the English translation of another language is entirely accurate. The English translation you quoted refers to “ownership” and “sharing” with somewhat of a legal connotation: this is not what Augustine writes in Latin, where he is very generically refers to things that one has and things that one gives.
 
Also, Augustine’s original profession was rhetoric, which would have made him a valuable patent and copyright litigator, if those things had been invented yet.
 
STF said:
There is this famous quote from Augustine of Hippo about sharing things: “For if a thing is not diminished by being shared with others, it is not rightly owned if it is only owned and not shared.” (source).

Am I right to understand that copyright and patent laws are therefore incompatible with Catholic doctrine?
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No. Copyright protects investments for companies and individuals and the lack of copyright would inhibit those investments from ever being done.

Also, a saint writing something has nothing to do with what is or isn’t doctrine. In this case you are using the quote and making an extraordinary leap.

Peace.
 
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