[LAU] Changerd: Copyright laws and such

drew Roberts zotz at 100jamz.com
Tue Feb 12 14:32:08 UTC 2013


On Monday 11 February 2013 14:16:04 Al Thompson wrote:
> On 02/11/2013 09:58 AM, drew Roberts wrote:
> > See, your first mistake is to describe the person as a property owner
> > without qualifications.
> >
> > Second, I do not speak of private, contracted "showings" but rather of
> > publication.
>
> I am also talking about "published works."
>
> I guess the first question I would ask you, is "do you believe that a
> person has a right to profit from his efforts?"

No. A person has a right to try and profit from their efforts, but that is 
different.
>
> > The draconian situation we have today is still not good enough to protect
> > the works of the big copyright holders to their satisfaction. Open your
> > eyes and look at they laws they are asking for and often getting.
>
> Many of the laws that are on the books, are not directly a result of
> "copyright law" necessarily, but rather from backroom deals, lobbying
> (i.e. - bribes), and other compromises.  Don't confuse the RIAA with
> "copyright owners."

Doesn't matter much to the person on the wrong end of those whacked laws now 
does it.
>
> > So, you are whistling a new tune in your room with the windows open. Jack
> > is walking by and hears some of it. It is catchy and he starts to whistle
> > it as he walks along. John standing at the bus stop a few blocks away
> > hears it as Jack passes. He too starts whistling the melody. He gets on
> > the bus whistling. All of the bus riders hear at. When they get off the
> > bus at their various stops they whistle it. Etc. In the absence of
> > copyright law, do you really think you have some power or right to
> > prevent this situation? Some right to be compensated by all of these
> > people whistling without your permission?
> >
> > Oh, and by the way, to my ignorant understanding, if you hadn't yet
> > written down what you were whistling when Jack heard, you don't get to
> > copyright it. Oops. (I say ignorant as it may only happen if you perform
> > it in public first. Etc.)
>
> You don't have to "write it down," in the literal sense.  But being in a
> fixed form of some sort is required, as is "publication."

Exaclty. And if you didn't fix it, you are not protected. And even if you did 
happen to be recording when Jack walked by, do you really think you have some 
*inherent* power / right to stop that long chain of folks from whistling 
without your permission?

I invite you to seriously consider the questions in this post:

http://zotzbro.blogspot.com/2010/12/copyright-questions.html

all the best,

drew


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