Re: Snooze/lose (Was: Academics and coursepacks)

On Fri, 28 Aug 1998, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> ...
> IP is not "given" as in "give away" but sold to the public as a product
> or performance, usually subject to licenses provided by IP creators
> "privately." In defense of IP rights, recording devices are routinely
> prohibited at public performances without any serious legal challenge
> that I know.
>
> When Chrysler stopped making the Plymouth Valiant, did it give up its
> IP rights?
>
> If you rent out your real estate or your car for a week, must you give
> up your right to _not_ rent it?
>
> If you loan a book for two weeks, are you obligated to loan it again
> and forever?

National copyright statutes that I am familiar with all state that making a recording without permission of a public performance of music does *not* constitute legal publication of the works involved. So publishing such a recording would breach copyright in at least two ways (even apart from the performance aspects, which not all jurisdictions protect).

If a book is lent by a public library, or a car is rented out to a client and then another would-be lender/renter is refused, surely the refusal cannot be based on certain grounds that might be held discriminatory and in violation of the would-be lender/renter's civil rights. There is no absolute right on the part of the book lender or the house or car lender to refuse to rent, at least not once such transactions have enterred the public playing field. Albert Henderson's analogue might hold if the IP were never made available to the public, but only handled in a strictly private form of distribution. Years back, when protection for unpublished works was without term/limit under the older common law, authors often designated a work as "privately printed" or limited distribution to select persons in order to avoid bringing the work under a limited term of protection through publication.

Cheers,

Bernard Katz, Head, Special Collections and Library Development McLaughlin Library, University of Guelph, Guelph ON Canada N1G 2W1 and Chair, Ontario Library Association COpyright Action Committee bkatz[_at_]uoguelph.ca // (519) 824-4120 X2089 // FAX: (519) 824-6931 Received on Mon Aug 31 1998 - 20:47:20 GMT