On Wed, 24 May 2000, Linda Gruber <linda[_at_]novelart.com> wrote:
>
> One day, taking an original image from my online gallery, may be
> burglary (trespass with the intent to commit a felony) in addition
> to theft. Then if the thief publishes, displays, manipulates, or
> distributes my image it would also be copyright infringement.
One day perhaps, but certainly in a galaxy far, far away.
As numerous other posters have observed, common law offenses against property (burglary, larceny, robbery) just don't work when applied -- either online or offline -- to intangible property. Moreover, copyright laws were not designed to provide absolute protection and exclusive use for all time to copyright holders. That's why a fairly broad "fair use" provision was built into the copyright statute.
And I wouldn't count on success in an infringement claim against someone who "manipulates" your image in the privacy of his own home and for his own noncommercial amusement.
Greg Ikonen
gikonen[_at_]vlg.com
Received on Thu May 25 2000 - 16:26:24 GMT
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