Re: Constitutional Challenge to (C) Code

Robert Cumbow <cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com> writes:
>
> Mr. Smith's argument makes the assumption that works in the public
> domain will be more readily available to the public than works still
> under copyright. A stroll through any bookstore, with a shopping list
> of p.d. works in hand, suggests the opposite.

I could indeed compile a list of p.d. works which are not readily available in bookstores. I could also compile a long list of copyrighted works which are not available except by special order, if at all. When did you last see a copy of Saul Levin's "The Linear B Decipherment Controversy Re-Examined" at your local Border's? But as an article in Publisher's Weekly 244(47),17-19, November 17, 1997 shows, p.d. works of proven popularity are not likely to lack for publishers. Furthermore, p.d. status allows all the marketing geniuses in the country (not just the proprieter's ) to try their hands at *making* a neglected work popular by re-packaging it in some way.

Tim Phillips
<phillips[_at_]mail.nhn.ou.edu> Received on Fri May 01 1998 - 20:54:25 GMT