Re: droit de suite

On 04/12/2000, Eric Eldred <eldred[_at_]eldritchpress.org> wrote:
>
> As one example, last December a chain of retail
> stores in Massachusetts was obliged to withdraw
> selling statuettes of a reindeer (caribou) with a
> red nose, because of a letter from a lawyer representing
> someone who claimed ownership of the rights to all
> red-nosed reindeer, on the basis of the popular song
> that many children sing. I noticed some discussion
> about this in "New Scientist" magazine in the U.K.,
> wondering why the new reindeer statues had blue noses,
> but I didn't have the heart to explain to aliens what
> is happening here in the U.S.
>
> No doubt many writers and artists recognize that art
> and writing are mostly incorporation of all the sights
> and sounds around them into some personal statement;
> if that reworking of the popular culture surrounding
> us is forbidden, much innovation will be lost.

I have questions as to whether copying, say, Walt Disney characters is creative (some people would call it kitsch), and what the justification would be for encouraging it. Shall we dump the prohibitions against plagiarism, on the grounds that plagiarism is how some people like to "express" themselves?

pat sloane
<patsloane[_at_]aol.com> Received on Wed Apr 12 2000 - 13:48:20 GMT