RE: ELDRED

On Thursday, January 23, 2003 4:34 PM, Dodi Schultz [SMTP:SCHULTZ[_at_]compuserve.com] wrote:
> in answer to Denise Nicholson's question,
Denise Nicholson asks,
  So
> >> who and what does copyright (and its extended terms) really
protect?
>

 *Expression*, and that alone.
>

Yes, but.... where does the outer protected expression, the work of creative writers both fiction and non-fiction, end; and the inner, non-protected, idea, knowledge or information expressed begin? It's a line along which practical jurists have long had difficulty dissecting, despite the philosophical purity of the defining rule.

Practically, the problem is not helped by the fact that it is frequently, though not always, in the unprotected information or idea that the economic value lies, and therefore where there is pressure to find protection.

It's far easier to defend long copyright terms if that which is protected is narrowly construed.

Edward Barrow
New Media Copyright Consultant
http://www.copyweb.co.uk/
***Important: see http://www.copyweb.co.uk/email.htm for information about the legal status of this email *** Received on Fri Jan 24 2003 - 07:34:02 GMT