Galileo's repository

Just had a mad conversation with a friend about this project. What if Galileo had actually "owned" his discovery that the earth orbited the sun and not the other way round, along with the vast amount of scientific data he accumulated during his lifetime. Or if, throughout history, scientists had been able to draw upon and use each others data? In Galileo's case, the poor guy spent the last years of his life under house arrest. What would the implications be if someone else came up with something considered "hare-brained" or even wicked or evil in this day and age? Would anyone WANT to own that data? and if it did become valuable in the future, how would this data be protected. This is just a bit of a brainstorm and a rant I do'n't want to lose this train of thought... :)