[mc808]

That's the difference between creating and publishing. To publish is to contribute your ideas to the public domain, where they may be picked up and used by others. You're under no obligation to publish your creation. But if you do, you have to understand that your creation becomes part of the same ecosystem of ideas that educated and inspired you in the first place. As a culture, we consider this a valuable process, so we incentivize it with limited and temporary immunity from the perils of free market competition in distribution so that you have the opportunity to recoup your investment and build a name for yourself.