Re: public domain copyright -- public domain Internet

On Thu, 23 Mar 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?

In the Middle Age -- artists earned their living as they could and we will never know the names of the architects of the cathedrals in Europe. In the Renaissance some rich famillies set up a patronage system which was quite successful until the end of the 18th century. The system was okay in those societies where few had access to art or/and could read at all. Although in the past centuries some artists did succeed in bringing out controversial works under the protection of these "enlighted sponsors", one of the main drawback of the system is "dependancy".

Also techniques were not so developed and the old Guthenberg prints not that effective as to be produce hundred of copies of a single work -- Most cultivated people at that time, an extremely low percentage of the population, "knew" who the authors were anyway. The "worth" which could happen to an author was maybe not to get any recognition (or payment -- but that was not an issue since successful authors were financially supported by "enlighted" sponsors) for a translation of one of his works. The mass diffusion of works changed all of this, and it is now important for an author not only to get payment for his work (copyright), but also recognition (moral rights).

The Internet is affecting the copyright industry as well, and in fact, I believe, makes copyright AND moral rights even more important than before. Or should we return to the former "sponsor" system?

Sylvie Fodor
<s.fodor[_at_]akg.de> Received on Tue Mar 28 2000 - 07:39:07 GMT