Re: Attribution is not required in public domain materials

On Tue, 10 Jun 2003, Michael Graham <mgraham[_at_]marshallip.com> wrote:

>

Being truthful in attribution by itself is not a threat to the free speech. It is the requirement itself that is problematic. The enforcement of attributions - forcing people to provide attributions - places limitations on the freedoms of speech and press.

Do we really want the great-great-great-great-grandchildren of Charles Dickens to force people to provide attribution whenever they copy any idea from Charles Dickens' _Christmas Carol_ even though the copyright protection has expired? Do we really want the authors and their descendants watching over our shoulders to make sure that we give proper credit for every item that we copy from them? The mere threat of lawsuit if you don't provide proper attribution is enough to produce chilling effect on how you write or speak.

Being truthful in attribution can be also a problem. Even you are very honest in providing attribution to Charles Dickens' works, do we want the descendents of Charles Dickens to have the ability to force (through lawsuit) you to eliminate attribution if they find your works not meeting their tastes (such as X-rate or even R-rate movie on _Christmas Carol_)?

J. K. Rowling's books on Harry Potter are fun to read. I am looking forward to fifth book. Many ideas in her books came from the public domain world (never mind what she said - she was not 100% candid). Just imagine the consequence if she is required to provide attribution for each idea that she copies from the public domain world. She would not be able to succeed if we let the bars of attribution imprison her. It is far better to let her have the freedom to communicate, the freedom to tell a story, than having her hands handcuffed with the chains of attribution that are as long as Nile River.

We must not let authors gain perpetual copyright through the guise of trademark.

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com>
http://www.boycottcopyright.com

Number of days left until 1-1-2019 when all knowledge of 1923 in the land of the U.S.A. will be freed from their copyright owners' prisons: 5,683

Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain. Received on Wed Jun 11 2003 - 19:27:01 GMT