Re: Altering Programs

On Sat, 13 Feb 1999, Ari Kahan <akahan[_at_]netcom.com> wrote:
>
> If Mark's right, Mirage is not just poorly decided; it's
> insane. Unfortunately, I think Mark's right. (But if
> so, why'd we need all that extra legislation to prevent
> defacement of "one of a kind" artistic works? Wouldn't
> that have already been prohibited as creating a derivative
> work?)
>

No comment on whether we "needed" the legislation at all. But here's at least one difference between the Mirage-interpreted derivative works right and the Visual Artist Rights Act: who owns the right? It is the author under VARA, and the copyright owner under Mirage. Those two entities are not always the same.

It's also worth noting that the 7th Circuit (Lee v. ART) and the D. Puerto Rico (L'Enfantil) have disagreed with Mirage on what constitutes a derivative work.

Mark Lemley
<mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu> Received on Mon Feb 15 1999 - 15:55:56 GMT