Re: Florida Pre-paid v. College Savings Bank

On Wed, 07 Jul 1999, Sam Byassee <sam_byassee[_at_]shmm.com> wrote:
>
> Professors resort to these arguments because they believe obtaining
> permission is administratively difficult, or too time-consuming, or
> they fail to plan ahead, or they fear permission will be denied, or
> they cannot be bothered, or perhaps, simply because they disagree
> with Congress and the courts about the allocation of rights under
> copyright law. These rationales are not unique to university faculty,
> but the Florida Prepaid holding gives this group another easy reason
> not to seek permission.

Maybe this again proves that Copyright law is very different from property law, and that many people, including professor think very different about it. I too cannot be bothered about many things forbidden by copyright law. I just don't feel there's anything unethical about things like taking a snap of a sculpture, painting my house in a different colour, copying a few pages from a textbook, buying a CD in the US, because it is cheaper than here in Holland, etc.

Maybe a referendum on copyrights would be very good to change the world as we know it. So far, most individuals have not been bothered, because they didn't feel the impact of copyright, because copying at home was not really easy, and couldn't compete with mass produced copies (and that is what is changing in the digital age), but once they do (and several parties in the industry, notably Hollywood and the rock music industry are working hard in that direction), people will understand the impact...

Jeroen Hellingman
<jehe[_at_]kabelfoon.nl> Received on Thu Jul 08 1999 - 22:01:28 GMT