Re: Constitutional Challenge to (C) Code

Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> tows the copyright barons' line:
>
>The simple answer is that copyright invites and protects
>investments in dissemination. Public domain works carry
>a greater risk.

This is false. A public domain work has a track record: Its popularity or lack of it are known. Barnes & Noble aren't taking any great risk by reprinting Willa Cather's My Antonia in an inexpensive hardback.

If a public domain work was not successful in its original form, it can be re-made into a derivative version, perhaps targeted to a specific market. This needn't be any riskier than marketing a fully original work.

Tim Phillips.
<phillips[_at_]mail.nhn.ou.edu> Received on Tue Mar 31 1998 - 14:53:54 GMT