Re: droit de suite

On Fri, 7 Apr 2000, Pat Sloane <patsloane[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
>
> I'm not questioning your image of yourself as a very nice guy who
> loves to give away books. But you might find many of your problems
> would evaporate if you could stick to giving away the many books
> that belong to no one (see above), and either keep your hands off
> the books that have owners or resign yourself to paying those owners.
> Most of us are not in your enviable position, where we can devote
> all of our time to looking for books we can give away at no charge.
> May I ask how you support yourself? Independent wealth? another
> business on the side?

I think this very much touches the crux of the issue. The point is that, by the wimp of some legislaters, the "ownership" of many books has been extended, without any consideration for the public or justification at all -- a few donations to re-election funds sufficed. Maybe very difficult to understand for some on this list, but some here prepare the books for free republication, not for the bucks. He is one of the few coming up for the public, from which the books were taken away contrary the basic deal of copyright -- you have a monopoly for some time, in excange for making the work public. No I don't believe in a 'natural right' to prevent others from copying your works... copyright is a means to secure that creators of works can have income, but should it do so for their distant relatives in a far away future. I don't think so.

Jeroen Hellingman
<jehe[_at_]kabelfoon.nl> Received on Mon Apr 10 2000 - 20:20:18 GMT