Re: Responsibility, Copyright and New World Order

On Tue, 10 Aug 1999, Timothy Phillips <hrothgar[_at_]telepath.com> wrote:
>
> On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Dwight Hines <hunger99[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
> >
> > Basic to the concept of copyright is ownership: The owner has the
> > right to decide who can make copies of his work.
>
> To try to identify what is "basic to the concept of copyright" is
> to lose oneself in irrelevancies, since copyright itself is not
> "basic" to anything. In the U.S. system at least, copyright is
> merely a gimmick devised "to promote the science and useful arts."
>
> What is "basic" to science and useful arts is the public domain.

Why would anyone invest in dissemination without protection of legal exclusivity -- the sole right to exploit the work and obtain a return on the investment? Even with public domain reprints, I can tell you that potential publishers will generally avoid works already in print.

Albert Henderson
Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY
<70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Mon Aug 16 1999 - 12:46:00 GMT