[Upd-discuss] a longer term strategy for promoting thepublicdomain?

[Michael Hart]

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004, Jay Sulzberger wrote:

>
>
> On Sat, 21 Aug 2004, David Basskin wrote:
>
>> "Our" goals? Sorry, I must have been out of the room when the Kool-Aid was 
>> being served.
>> 
>> What a startling exercise in thought-policing your glossary is! 
>> Songwriters and music publishers who depend on copyright to protect their 
>> right to control the use of their works, and to be compensated for such 
>> use, would find your point of view absurd and offensive ... but at least 
>> we don't try to say that you shouldn't hold such thoughts.
>
> Of course, there is no general "right to control the use of their works"
> granted to copyright holders.  Copyright is a system of government created
> limited monopolies for special purposes.  Copyright does not grant the
> copyright holder legal power to dictate what private use I make of a copy
> inside my house.

Actually, it does, according to the head of a law library who taught
me hundreds of times more about copyright than I ever wanted to know.
[This is US copyright]


> Nor does copyright law stop me from reproducing and distributing a 
> copyrighted work, if I must in order to speak freely and precisely of the 
> work.

There are rules about this, too, I'm afraid.


Michael