> _Some_ analogies with physical property are possible: If a ship is > derelict at sea, someone else can successfully claim title by right of > salvage. The original authors are deemed to have abandoned title, but > the ship doesn't cease to become property. > ... > Does the first person to pull the film canisters out of the rubbish bin > gain copyright? Does he have to worry about being sued by the dustmen > before he can safely say the film's copyright was legally abandoned? > The film studio, when it finds out about the dumpster raid? I don't > know. Neither do you. ;-> Rick, thanks for your clarification. I don't have definite answers to those questions, but I would find it hard to believe that a judge would allow a person to sue another for copyright infringement based on a "found" work that he neither created nor purchased. And I certainly don't see such a policy doing much for "the progress of science and the useful arts" (though I think we all know how much those words are worth :) I don't think I have anything else to say on the subject either; as is all too common in copyright law, we seem to be running up against that black void where case law ought to be.
By the way, I meant to send this discussion of copyright abandonment to the list, but I don't believe it made it: http://www.tomwbell.com/writings/(C)Esc.html#HIV.B Greg -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
