Re: droit de suite

On Mon, 3 Apr 2000, Pat Sloane <patsloane[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
>
> So what drives the raging against copyright, if it isn't any kind
> of desire for the public good? Seems to me it's the larcenous lust.

    The question is better "What drives the raging against the individual's right to copy if not a desire for public good?". Why, greed of course.

    You also seem to be laboring under the notion that expression and ideas are the same as tangible goods - they are not. They cannot be "stolen" in the same way tangible goods can. That is, there is a natural monopoly on tangible goods given by mere possession, which is not inherent in the intangible ideas and expression.

> Eliminate copyright and you deprive the writer of the opportunity to
> profit from his work. But you've correspondingly opened the door for

    Was someone suggesting the total elimination of copyright? I thought what was on the table was the shortening of the term of copyright. I, for one, don't see how the public good is enhanced by protecting author's works for more than, say, 20 years. Would any fewer people publish if the copyright term was shortened to this length? After all, that is the _only_ Constitutional reason for establishing copyright law in the first place (as I understand it).

> anyone other than the writer to profit from the writer's work. The
> T. S. Eliot estate makes a million dollars a year from the literary
> properties he left. Knock out copyright, and that million dollars
> is up for grabs. Anyone, even you, could print and sell his books

   Nonsense. That million dollars exists only because of the artificial monopoly given by the gov't. In the absence of copyright on the text, I doubt you'd _have_ to pay much more than the cost of the paper and ink for a copy.

   Why should the public have to pay all this extra money? To support the TS Eliot Foundation? Are we encouraging any more publications by TS Eliot? If not, what _is_ the benefit to the public of continuing the monopoly?

Lynn

Lynn Winebarger
<owinebar[_at_]free-expression.org> Received on Wed Apr 05 2000 - 17:35:16 GMT