Re: Coursepacks

On Fri, 3 Jul 1998, John Allison <allisonj[_at_]mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
>
> On 7/3/98, Tim Arnold-Moore <tja[_at_]mds.rmit.edu.au> wrote:
> >
> > Gary Newhouse <garyn[_at_]oakton.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > Copyright was "invented" as a mans of assuring the continued flow of
> > > information for the common good of society. The reserved copy-rights
> > > are there to give the creative person (and, by extension i guess, the
> > > publisher) incentive to keep on being creative for the good of society.
> >
> > Actually copyright was invented for precisely the opposite reason. Its
> > origins are based on efforts of Henry VIII to keep new ideas from the
> > European reformers out of England in 1533. The Statute of Anne in 1709
> > moved what had been a copyright for publishers to being a copyright for
> > authors, see Donaldson v Beckett (1774) 4 Burr. 2408; 98 E.R. 257. The
> > aspect of incentive to authors is a much later invention.
>
> It goes even farther back. Hundreds of years earlier, the Chinese
> instituted a form of copyright (possessed by the ruling dynasty) for
> the purpose of maintaining state control over information.

Can you share with us where you get that information? It is my thought that the copyright is entirely a Western thought.

My colleague who was born in Taiwain told me that in China, it is somewhat a tradition or belief that one is allowed to copy anything (so to contiue the art and knowledge from one generation to the next generation).

Other bit that I learned is that from the perspective of China, copyright is a form of bribe where the society bribes an author to publish his/her work.

These two bits may or may not be accurate. I would like to know any reliable source that will confirm or invalidate any of the above. But, as far as I can tell, copyright is still a Western thought, strongly influenced by individualism, which is not entirely embraced by the Eastern peoples.

Again, I am open to any correction on my knowledge.

Best,

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com> Received on Mon Jul 06 1998 - 16:42:24 GMT