Re: Copyrights as Property (Was: Copyright Extension Bill Passes Congress)

On 11/01/98, Terry Carroll <carroll[_at_]tjc.com> wrote:
>
> As I see it, there are three diferent entities that need to be
> considered:
>
> 1) the work, a metaphysical thing that is not property, or, to the
> extent it can be characterized as property, is public property;

Wait. No, that can't be right. If I write a novel or make a sculpture, it can't be public property. The essential work is in my head; how can it be public?

> 2) the copyright in the work, a legislatively created bundle of
> specific rights concerning reproduction, etc., of the work, and that
> is the property of the author and/or his assigns;

Isn't this what becomes public property after the term expires? Or rather, the restriction on copying that is defined by copyright no longer applies.

> 3) the copy, the only physical thing in the analysis, which is the
> material object from which the work is perceived, and which is the
> property of the individual who acquires title to the physical object
> lawfully produced under the ordinary rules for transfer of a chattel.
 

No problem here.

• Mike Bradley National Writers Union <mike[_at_]sphinx.com>