Re: copyright under stress

On Tue, Jun 13, 2000, Lance Purple <lpurple[_at_]netcom.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 12 Jun 2000, Robert C. Cumbow <rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com> wrote:
> >
> > I love the economic mumbo-jumbo, but I'm with Don Roemer in believing
> > that copyright has to do with the right to copy, not freedom of access.
> > I'd be interested in seeing concrete examples of situations in which
> > copyright causes denial of access.
>
> _Worldwide Church of God vs Philadelphia Church of God_
>
> The plaintiffs obtained copyright to a core religious text
> entitled _The Mystery of the Ages_. They believe this work
> to be a heresy, and are using their copyright specifically
> to deny the defendants (a splinter group from their church)
> access to the work.

This is an instance in which, like many copyright owners, the plaintiff is seeking to block access to an (allegedly) infringing work. If a work is truly infringing, then of course it OUGHT to be enjoined. The issue under discussion, though, as I understood it, was whether copyright owners are misusing copyright in order to block public access to their own original copyrighted work.

Robert C. Cumbow
 Graham & Dunn PC
 1420 Fifth Avenue, 33rd Floor
 Seattle, WA 98101-2390
 206.340.9619
 206.340.9599 fax
 rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com
 http://www.grahamdunn.com/  

        Big law firm experience
without the big law firm experience SM

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