[alexqgb]

Not sure why you're being down-voted. The comparison you were pointing out as being obviously idiotic is, in fact, obviously idiotic.

There's a far better comparison to be made with IP produced by NASA, for instance, which is automatically released directly to the public domain on the grounds that the American public is who commissioned it in the first place (for the rest of the world, it's a gift - you're welcome).

[skosuri]

Not all IP; just most copyrighted images that NASA themselves produce. Patents by NASA are licensed to companies [1].

[1] http://technology.nasa.gov/patents

edit: Most of the biggest high profile publications from NASA get published in Science/Nature, which are both closed access FWIW.