Re: Copyright & The New World Economic Order

On Thu, 29 Jul 1999, John Lederer <johnl[_at_]ibm.net> wrote:
>
> It seems to me that the concept that copyright laws do not infringe on
> the First Amendment is starting to get pretty tattered:
>
> (1) I find it difficult to apply the "idea" 'expression" dichotomy to
> the Scientology cases, where it seems to me that Copyright was actively
> used to prevent discussion of ideas. Indeed, any time the expressions
> of an author are used to discuss the author the idea/expression concept
> seems very tenuous to me.
>
> (2) Fair use has become so uncertain a concept that it leaves one in
> perpetual doubt whether one is covered by its mantle or not. This
> doesn't work in the area of free speech.

I think fair use becomes uncertain only when it is in dispute. I would estimate thousands of 'fair use' copies made daily with no problem.

> (3) The loss of a requirement for a notice of copyright made a major
> transformation in the law from "all is permitted that is not forbidden"
> to "all is forbidden unless permitted". The result of course is
> widespread disobediance -- intentional, inadvertent, by necessity, or
> by commonsense -- of the law.

I think the notice was a U.S. innovation not shared by the rest of the world. Isn't that why it was dropped when the U.S. signed Berne?

> (4) The extension of terms to increasingly long periods in the midst
> of technological,economic, and social changes that argue for shorter
> periods merely increases the tension.

There are two sides to the argument. Greater investment, particularly in creations aimed at mass audiences, supports longer terms and better protection.

> Copyright enforcement has already started to become a matter of bluster
> and threat and selective enforcement. Few public agencies are willing
> to take the political heat of enforcing the law, so its enforcement
> increasingly becomes a matter for private associations formed by those
> who benefit from the law.

Enforcement is often based on a complaint. Last week a local flea market was raided. Hundreds of pirate videotapes were seized. Maybe that "FBI" warning on commercial tapes is real.

Some of the greatest piracy losses result from governments not ensuring that their own agencies use legal software.

> I think the system will eventually collapse. The chief reason, of
> course, is that it no longer accomplishes what it was designed to do.
> It doesn't promote the dissemination of knowledge . It retards it,
> and does so for the benefit of a very few.

COPYRIGHT INDUSTRIES IN THE U.S. ECONOMY indicates $278 billion in value added in 1996 by the core group including motion pictures, computer software, music and recording and publishing industries. Adding the distribution of these products, the contribution to GDP was 5.68% or $434 billion. [Press release Feb 16, 1999. International Intellectual Property Alliance]

Piracy was estimated at $12.4 billion outside the U.S.

They are working on it.

I wouldn't worry.

Albert Henderson
Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY
<70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Fri Jul 30 1999 - 21:27:28 GMT