" Steve Holroyd" wrote:
> I do not understand the point you are making. In the UK, many libraries have
> CDs available for loan just as they have books available. I do not see any
> link between borrowing a copyrighted work from a library and the illegal
> copying of copyrighted works.
>
> Perhaps you could enlighten?
Was responding to the numerous list comments about the RIAA types whose
rhetoric/money is endangering the entire free library concept. Of course the entire
"Open Source" concept is a result of this predigital way of seeing things.
MM
This from
javascript:openWin('/bbs/sendmsg.asp?mbid=107132&toid=6760',400,500,1)
"...you need to understand the Constitutional basis of copyright law. It also helps
illuminate the whole debate a bit. It's pretty obvious why we have laws to protect
physical or material property --- if you take my watch, I no longer have a watch on
my wrist. I can no longer tell time, nor can I sell my watch. You've done me actual
harm.
Intellectual property is a whole different ballgame. If I "take" your song, that is,
record it, sing it, copy it. you still have your song. You can still sing it, record
it, sell concert tix. There's no direct loss and direct harm.
Except of course if I write the greatest song in the world, I want to be able to make
money off it. If everyone can just perform my song, or sell my CD, the market will be
flooded, and I won't be able to sell enough CDs or tix to make a living, so why would
I bother? That hurts not only me, but all of society, since (theoretically) I write
wonderful songs and it is in society's interest to promote the arts.
When the founders wrote the Constitution they decided that way to help make it worth
my while to keep writing these songs is to grant a monopoly on the rights. I control
the supply, so I can charge as much as the demand could bear.
The actual passage (Sec. 8) grants Congress the right "To promote the Progress of
Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the
exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries" (This passage applies
to patents too)
Notice the rights are for "limited times." There is societal benefit in works
becoming public domain to be reinterpreted, etc. Also, in Britain, the King used
permanent exclusive rights as a way of controlling information.
It's up to Congress to achieve the right balance -- how long do you give the
copyright holder the monopoly to make money which promotes arts, but it's not so long
that you stifle progress.
The obvious conclusion: the lifetime of the artist. I write the song, I profit off it
for my life, then when I die, it becomes everyone's.
But it takes more than me to get my work out. So the musician signs a record deal
with a studio to produce it and distribute it. That takes an investment by the
company. The only way they'll recoup that is if they have the rights long enough to
make $$s. Why would any company invest in my music if the day it was released, I
could get hit by a truck, and my music becomes public domain?
So that's the origin of the life + 50 or 70 years copyright. In a nutshell, this is
the foundation for the RIAA claims.
The flip side to this is Fair Use, which comes from the First Amendment guarantees of
free speech. Fair use allows you to make mix tapes, record a TV show and watch it
later, etc. But the real reason is to allow you to excerpt the work for criticism or
education. It also allows "reverse engineering" of technologies (taking stuff apart
to see how it can be put back together) to build your own better mousetrap.
But no one knows exactly what exactly can you do under fair use There's no statute
that says X, Y, and Z are fair use. The only way to decide if a particular act is
fair use is to get sued, then use fair use as your defense, and let the judge decide.
Most of us don't have the resources to fight a RIAA lawsuit, which is part of their
strong-arm tactics. They're counting on people buckling under so they can set the
line where they want it.
There's also the "first sale" doctrine -- if I buy a book or CD, that's it, you got
your profit on the sale. I have the right to give or sell it to anyone I want. That
allows used CD stores and even libraries.
(An interesting side note -- the music industry says they are harmed because
downloaders are less likely to buy the CD. But people who borrow library books are
less likely to buy a copy. So using the RIAA logic, libraries should be shut down.)
File swapping isn't covered under fair use or first sale because I'm not just giving
away my copy, but an unlimited number of copies. That can undermine the market.
Obviously that the record industry wants to protect its business of selling CDs. If
they were to offer something that were better than free -- better quality MP3s,
faster downloads, extensive libraries, other features -- and charge a reasonable
price for it, people would pay. Problem solved.
So there's a lot of merit to the argument that the RIAA are taking the wrong tack on
this.
This whole legal issue is entirely up for grabs right now. There are numerous pending
legal cases, and bills in Congress.
There's also another whole Pandora's box of stuff around copy protection laws (the
DMCA) which may undermine the fair use and first sale doctrines by removing access.
But that's a whole other string!"
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