Re: public domain copyright -- public domain Internet

On Fri, 24 Mar 2000, Edward Barrow <edward[_at_]plato32.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Mar 23, 2000, Eric Eldred <eldred[_at_]eldritchpress.org> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, Mar 22, 2000, Sylvie Fodor <s.fodor[_at_]akg.de> wrote:
> > >
> > > Copyright (or authors' rights in Europe -- this is not quite the
> > > same) is the only way that have been found up to now to have artists
> > > make a living -- also after their death (for their heirs/ relatives)
> > > if the work was not that famous while they were living.
> >
> > I wonder how those artists, authors, and inventors
> > were able to make a living while creating their
> > works for so many centuries without the benefit
> > of copyright then?
>
> Through the patronage of the rich and powerful.

Not only that way but also through their reputations, associations, old-fashioned trademarks, and ethics (on doing their businesses). These are still true today.

> > I wonder how the Internet, Linux, GNU, and so on,
> > can ever be popular if the creators can't charge
> > users and make a living?
>
> Most people who use and develop open-source software have a day
> job and need the improvements in order to do their day job.

Don't forget the civilians and military in the U.S. government. They who are paid by taxes produce uncopyrightable works daily. (This is how we get Internet.)

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com>

Number of days left until 1-1-2019 when all knowledge of 1923 in the land of the U.S.A. will be freed from their copyright owners' prisons: 6,854 Received on Sun Mar 26 2000 - 20:39:05 GMT