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I had a related question in mind and after reading this question I intend to put it here. This question is from a different perspective, based on differences in physical and cyber world.

The story is of a carpenter. The carpenter made useful objects out of wood, working hard for each one he made. Sold each one for money.

One fine day he came across a different kind of wood, magical, any object made out of it could replicate itself any number of time. Such magical trees were now growing all over the forest.

Now, the carpenter made only one object and effortlessly replicated it to huge quantities. However, still, he demanded same amount of money for each object he sold, moreover, he also demanded that people do not invoke the wood magic themselves and replicate his objects.

Question: Can an object which have the property of effortless replication, be treated as a singular entity and sold as such ?

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From the construction of the question and your choice of language, it seems like you're fishing for the answer "of course not!"--virtual and physical things can be different. Can you expand a little on where you think the similarities and differences are, and highlight which issues require careful consideration to get right? Obviously magical wood world is different than regular wood world in all sorts of relevant and irrelevant ways, including energy production (just make wood!) and warfare (bury them in wood!). The analogy is apt, but more focus would be nice also. – Rex Kerr Oct 28 '12 at 19:01
@RexKerr I might have poised the question in an inclined way. Consider it my ignorance. The point I intend to focus is this: If I make a chair out of ordinary wood, it is THE chair I made inherently unique in this aspect. However there is no THE magical chair, either I don't sell any OR, I can sell only one and it will be more than sufficient for the entire world. The problem with above sentence is, SELL to WHOM ? entire collective world ? or some person ? result will be the same, every one gets a magical chair. – User117 Oct 28 '12 at 19:37
^ but does this pass the 'who care?' test? what point are you making? – Dr Sister Oct 29 '12 at 11:06
-1 I do not understand what are "virtual laws" in this context and why you would need to invoke "magic wood" in the first place. Isn't this exactly the real case of software goods? Take the case where books and ebooks are sold at approx. the same price… What is the ulterior point you are trying to make in this "thought experiment"? – DBK Oct 29 '12 at 11:52

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Question: Can an object which have the property of effortless replication, be treated as a singular entity and sold as such ?

Sure, why not? From a philosophical perspective, the sale is a contract between the buyer and the seller, and can contain whatever conditions both parties agree upon. If the seller of the chair wishes to make a condition of the sale that the magic not be invoked, there's no problem with that-- and if the buyer finds that clause repugnant, the buyer can choose not to buy the chair.

In short: the seller can demand as much money as he pleases for the items he makes, and place whatever conditions he pleases; the buyer can buy or not buy, as he pleases.

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