Re: copyright under stress

On Thu, 15 Jun 2000, Eric Eldred <eldred[_at_]eldritchpress.org> wrote:
>
> Isn't the next question for the economists this one: given that the
> Internet (and "post-capitalist" consumer economy) has produced a
> state of technically no scarcity, is it still warranted (economically
> and legally) to associate copyright with this scarcity? Does it
> provide the right incentive -- for "the progress of science and the
> useful arts" rather than for private enrichment through imposed
> scarcity?
>
> It doesn't take much to make one wonder. In my town we still have
> a dump and we have to take waste there ourselves. Most every time
> I leave off my bundled newspapers I find a box or more of books
> being thrown away. The library doesn't want them -- the local used
> bookstore doesn't want them -- in fact these two throw away as many
> books as anyone. But no matter what they do to try to promote book
> scarcity the books keep being thrown away. It so happens that
> locally there is a glut of waste paper on the market, so my town
> actually has to pay to dispose of the books. But if I wanted to
> take the books without rewarding the author, I would be interfering
> with the system of incentives through scarcity and copyright based
> on it? (Don't tell anyone, but I do take them home and actually read
> them for free.)

No, you wouldn't be interfering with the scarcity, etc. True, *you* didn't reward the author, but the initial owners of those discarded books did. After that, doesn't the "first sale" doctrine apply?

While the scarcity premise in a previously offered post is perhaps part of the equation in copyright, I don't agree that it's the core factor in the "intent of copyright" discussion. I can borrow a book from a friend without infringing copyright. In fact, if I wished, I could purchase "Book A" or "Movie Video B" and loan it to one person at a time until every member of my 45,000-person town had seen it/read it. As long as none of them make a copy, no one has infringed. In this scenario, they've all had access to it. There's no difference between this example and posting something on the net, save for increased scope of access.

Marty Hayes
<9ball[_at_]hostsite.net> Received on Fri Jun 16 2000 - 22:35:12 GMT