Re: Academics and coursepacks

On 15, July 1998, Jay Dougherty <fjdoughe[_at_]lmulaw.lmu.edu> wrote:
>
> Joseph Pietro Riolo <riolo[_at_]voicenet.com> wrote:
> >
> > First, usual and boring disclaimer, I am not an expert in the area of
> > intellectual property and I am not a lawyer.
> >
> > On Mon, 13 Jul 1998, Timothy Phillips <hrothgar[_at_]telepath.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Michael Scarpitti <mscarpit[_at_]asnt.org> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > The pieces may be there, but it will take an architect (not a
> > > > repairman) to re-create the original.
> > >
> > > Even if this were the case with Shakespeare (and it sounds more like
> > > the reconstruction of a lost ancient work from quotations and
> > > derivative versions) the "architect" is reconstructing SOMEONE ELSE's
> > > authorship.
> > >
> > > A scholar of Shakespeare (or Hippolytus, or Irenaeus, or St.
> > > Patrick) shouldn't have it both ways. If he's restoring what
> > > Shakespeare wrote, then by definition what the result is not
> > > an original work of the scholar's own authorship, but of
> > > Shakespeare's. Copyright should be denied, regardless of how
> > > much work the scholar expends in establishing the text.
> >
> > However, it is very likely that the organization of the original
> > pieces is copyrightable.
> >
> > Say, person A finds four pieces of papers in an old cave and he
> > labels them: A, B, C, and D. After he spends many hours studying
> > these pieces, he determines that the order of the pieces should be
> > B, C, A, and D. I think that he owns the copyright in that order
> > but each of these pieces remains in the public domain.
> > Person B comes and sees these pieces. He can copy each piece one
> > at a time, separately from other pieces. That is, he takes piece A
> > and goes to copy room and xerox it and gives back the piece A to
> > person A. He then takes piece B and goes to copy room and xerox
> > it and gives back the piece B to person A. And so on for pieces
> > C and D.
> >
> > What person B cannot do is to take a binder of copies of the
> > pieces B, C, A, and D in that order from person A and goes to
> > copy room and xerox pieces B, C, A, and D in that order and
> > gives back the binder to person A. Person B is infringing person
> > A's copyright in that order.
> >
> > However, person B can spend many hours studying the pieces and
> > determine that the order is B, C, A, and D. Person B then can
> > own the copyright in that order. In that case, both persons A
> > and B own separate copyrights in the same order of the pieces.
> > To say in fewer words, it is OK to copy each public domain
> > piece but it is not OK to copy the pieces in the order that
> > the other person creates when he is reconstructing the pieces.
> > To add another wrinkle to the issue, if person A is very possessive
> > and jealous and lustful for power, money, and control, he will make
> > person B's life so miserable by accusing him for "stealing" (that
> > is, copying) his (person A's) order.
> >
> > But, correct me if I am wrong.
>
> I think that Mr. Riolo may be wrong. Copyright protects only an
> "original" selection, coordination or arrangement of preexisting
> materials. When you say person A finds that the order of the pages
> "should be" BCAD, I assume you mean that he discovers that that is
> the order in which the parts were previously arranged by the author.
> Thus, person A has not created an original compilation, but merely
> "discovered" someone else's compilation. That "discovery" would not
> be copyrightable, and anyone would be free to copy it.

Again, my original statement has become distorted. Reconstructing a complex ancient structure from ruins (hundreds or thousands of pieces, many missing and broken) hardly resembles the simpler problem posed by Riolo. It is, though, analogous to "recreating" Shakespeare's plays, which contain hundreds or thousands of pieces (words), many missing and broken (mis-heard or ill-remembered and taken down by others). That was my analogy, not what Riolo stated. Please respond to my analogy, not his version of it!

Michael A Scarpitti
Assistant Editor
Materials Evaluation
1711 Arlingate Lane
PO Box 28518
Columbus, Ohio 43228-0518
800 222-2768 Ext 207
614 274-6003 Ext 207
Fax 614 274-6899
<mscarpit[_at_]asnt.org> Received on Thu Jul 16 1998 - 15:35:24 GMT