01-05-2008, 11:04 PM | #61 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 8,478
Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
|
I think this part covers digital copies to the court's satisfaction:
Quote:
This is the part that notably also applied to people making tape copies of movies and music at home, which is why making your own tapes (or digital copies) is technically illegal. But as I've pointed out earlier, it has never been considered practical to prosecute that, except in cases where people made multiple copies and sold them at significant profit (or potentially cost the copyright owner significant profit). Thanks to the internet, making uber-multiple copies and risking significant potential profit is now easier than ever, hence the RIAA and their insistence on following the letter of the law. |
|
01-06-2008, 09:18 AM | #62 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,452
Karma: 7185064
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Linköpng, Sweden
Device: Kindle Voyage, Nexus 5, Kindle PW
|
Quote:
|
|
Advert | |
|
01-06-2008, 09:33 AM | #63 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 8,478
Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
|
Quote:
In the U.S., they would laugh that notion out of court. In fact, it would be my responsibility, upon being told "I did not have the right," to find and examine the documentation and credentials myself before ignoring that statement and distributing anyway. |
|
01-06-2008, 10:14 AM | #64 | |
New York Editor
Posts: 6,384
Karma: 16540415
Join Date: Aug 2007
Device: PalmTX, Pocket eDGe, Alcatel Fierce 4, RCA Viking Pro 10, Nexus 7
|
Quote:
______ Dennis |
|
01-06-2008, 10:54 PM | #65 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,452
Karma: 7185064
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Linköpng, Sweden
Device: Kindle Voyage, Nexus 5, Kindle PW
|
In that case you seem to have good reasons to suspect or believe that it is not OK to distribute it and you should stop. But that does not makes what you did before illegal. There seems to be a lot of bogus claims of having copyright floating around or other kind of claims that what you have on an web page is not allowed. So it is not resonable that you have to believe every claim without some other evidence to support the claim.
|
Advert | |
|
01-06-2008, 11:08 PM | #66 | |
New York Editor
Posts: 6,384
Karma: 16540415
Join Date: Aug 2007
Device: PalmTX, Pocket eDGe, Alcatel Fierce 4, RCA Viking Pro 10, Nexus 7
|
Quote:
______ Dennis |
|
01-06-2008, 11:19 PM | #67 |
Technogeezer
Posts: 7,233
Karma: 1601464
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Virginia, USA
Device: Sony PRS-500
|
It gets even more mucky under the DMCA. I no longer have to register my copyright with the copyright office (part of the Library of Congress) to have a valid copyright.
Let's take a real world example -- say I bought a bunch of Steve Jordan's books. (I have and they are great, check them out.) What do I have? I have an electronic copy of the book and a good copy of a color cover. So what can I do with that? I could post the files on my web site and sell them. As long as Steve doesn't catch me he loses pay for every copy that is downloaded. Are any of these actions legal? No. I have no rights to distribute his works. If he fails to enforce his rights he is subject to having those rights stripped from him. If I posted the works (even for free) and he becomes aware of it and fails to exercise his rights the works may fall into the public domain. It is a civil matter which means that the Government will not take any action on its own, but only as Steve goes to court to get them to exercise a judgment against his works being posted elsewhere.I could post them on the darknet and perhaps kill all of his sales for while. Was it illegal to post Steve's works before he noticed and told me to take them down? Yes. Then there is the secondary point of damages. How much does Steve want? This is why lawyers get the high fees that they charge. |
01-06-2008, 11:34 PM | #68 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 8,478
Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
|
Quote:
Quote:
In the informal situation, the "burden of proof" would be placed on the distributor to establish the validity of the owner's claim. They could always ask the owner for proof, but the owner is under no compulsion to comply with the request... he can simply say "go look it up," and that's all. (Usually, they provide the proof, so there is no question.) Interestingly enough, in the formal situation of court, the "burden of proof" would be on the copyright owner to produce the documents before the judge. If they did not produce the documents, the judge would likely let the distributor off. Fun system, huh? |
||
01-06-2008, 11:39 PM | #69 | |||
New York Editor
Posts: 6,384
Karma: 16540415
Join Date: Aug 2007
Device: PalmTX, Pocket eDGe, Alcatel Fierce 4, RCA Viking Pro 10, Nexus 7
|
Quote:
Quote:
Fantasy writer Katherine Kurtz went through that some years back. Some fans wanted to publish a fan magazine with stories set in Kurtz's Deryni universe, which they planned to sell. They wrote to Katherine for permission. She said no. They went ahead and published anyway! Katherine had to sue them. She didn't particularly want to, but if she didn't, she risked losing her rights, because she didn't defend them. She sued, won, and the fans in question had to do things like take out expensive ads in trade publications acknowledging that they had violated her rights and apologizing. Quote:
______ Dennis |
|||
01-07-2008, 02:36 AM | #70 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,450
Karma: 10484861
Join Date: May 2006
Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20
|
|
01-07-2008, 04:08 AM | #71 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,450
Karma: 10484861
Join Date: May 2006
Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20
|
I do not know the situation in the USA, but here, in my country (EU member) this is indeed how it works. DOWNLOADING copyrighted work is not illegal. Only distributingthe copyrighted work without consent of the copyright holder is illegal.
|
01-08-2008, 10:06 AM | #72 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 8,478
Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
|
Quote:
This is why I really think there needs to be a set of international agreements and understandings on what, exactly, a digital work is considered, and how it should be considered under international law. Without that, I don't see how we're ever going to work out these differences and issues, which threaten to undermine any hope for a workable international digital market. Failing that, the only other solution I see is for countries to erect digital "borders" which allow them to block specific countries from commerce. And I don't think many people want that. |
|
01-08-2008, 10:41 AM | #73 |
Sir Penguin of Edinburgh
Posts: 12,375
Karma: 23555235
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: DC Metro area
Device: Shake a stick plus 1
|
Why are these stories posted on Project Gutenberg Australia? So far as I can tell most of the stories are still in copyright everywhere. Did I miss something?
|
01-08-2008, 10:48 AM | #74 | |||
New York Editor
Posts: 6,384
Karma: 16540415
Join Date: Aug 2007
Device: PalmTX, Pocket eDGe, Alcatel Fierce 4, RCA Viking Pro 10, Nexus 7
|
Quote:
It's a bit like drug traffic: the cops want to bust the dealer. Busting the user is normally more trouble than it's worth. Quote:
Quote:
______ Dennis |
|||
01-08-2008, 11:00 AM | #75 | |
New York Editor
Posts: 6,384
Karma: 16540415
Join Date: Aug 2007
Device: PalmTX, Pocket eDGe, Alcatel Fierce 4, RCA Viking Pro 10, Nexus 7
|
Quote:
In practical terms, I don't think CN will go after them. Going after Blackmask is one thing, since the site and proprietor were in the US. Going after a site and site owner in Australia is a far more complex and costly operation. CN's interest in shutting down Blackmask appeared to be clearly establishing they owned the rights to the stories, in anticipation of potentially lucrative licensing deals for films based on the characters. I'd say they've done that. They may not consider the time and expense of going after a site in OZ worth it. ______ Dennis |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Notes On Lester Dent, Doc Savage, and Life + 50 copyright | Greg Anos | Upload Help | 16 | 07-18-2012 04:41 PM |
"First Wave" - A New Comic Book Series Featuring Doc Savage | Solitaire1 | Reading Recommendations | 3 | 03-02-2010 12:13 AM |
Pulp Doc Savage Covers? | rogue_ronin | Workshop | 29 | 01-26-2010 01:39 PM |
"Online Novels" - FREE, legal novels available on the Internet | Dr. Drib | Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links) | 8 | 05-22-2009 09:32 PM |