Re: to the point/Latin mutteri

Dan Agin asks:
>
> Don Berman points out, and I agree, that the law cannot deal a priori
> with all possible combinations and permutations of real behavior. But
> the copyright law in the U.S. has been in a state of flux for a long
> time now, and no one seems able to formulate statutes that are
> universally acceptable. So I'm asking an academic question: Is it
> possible the basic approach to intellectual property and copyright is
> logically flawed? Suppose, for the sake of argument, we change the
> copyright law so that copying is acceptable (legal), but *sale* of any
> copies is a right retained exclusively by the copyright holder. This
> is actually the de facto situation in many areas of software and print
> publishing. It seems to me that much of the confusion concerning "fair
> use" and "market effects" would settle into the dust and no longer be
> a problem. It seems to me the crux of the problem is that as technology
> continues to evolve, the mere making of copies becomes trivialized, and
> a new concept of intellectual property rights needs to be put forward.
> After all, it's commercial gain that's wanted by artists, writers, and
> publishers, so maybe we ought to concentrate on the rights of selling
> and distribution rather than the making of copies. Something like that,
> anyway. Maybe we can devise new machinery to protect creative rewards
> (and incentives). Why not? And now I'll put on my flak jacket, thank you.

How does one handle the Kinko type situation where copies are made but not sold for profit by the compiler - this becomes easier once one eliminates Kinko and just distributes electronic versions free to students on a network. How do we distinguish between distribution and copying in this era where the copy can be so easily distributed.

  Don Berman --  

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