[Upd-discuss] $18M Copyright, To Whom???

[Michael Hart]

$18M Copyright, To Whom???


$18 MILLION DOLLAR GENERAL COPYRIGHT SETTLEMENT:  TO WHOM???


By now hopefully most of you have heard about the settlement
in which authors were paid for their works that had been put
into databases without their permission.

The settlement was basically $1500 to those who registered a
copyright for their work vs. $60 for those who didn't.

Does anyone know the approximate original payments for these
kinds of works???

The reason I ask is due to the incredible disconnection from
those within the copyright registry system and those, myself
included, who have never registered a copyright, even though
I have been published numerous times.

How is it that the same article could be worth 25 times more
if it is registered???

This settlement seems to be more of a statement about who is
inside the system and who is outside than it is honest in an
attempt to responsibily pay for work that was previously the
subject of irresponsible reprinting.

It would appear there is quite a prejudice towards those who
are insiders supporting the entire copyright registry and to
maintain a prejudice against those not in the system.

The basic idea[l] here is to keep the money inside the great
system of approved people, just as the wealthy try to create
pressure on marriage, inheritance, etc., to keep their money
from going outside their system.  Think "The New York 400."

In such widely separated states such as Illinois, Washington
and others who have distinct differences between Chicago and
downstate, east and west of the mountains, or New York state
with its upstate and New York City regions, we see this sort
of thing all the time. . .laws are passed that depend on the
population of the regions involved.

Examples:

In Illinois if you want to pass a law only for Chicago, this
law need only specify it applies only to cities of 1,000,000
population or more.  If you want to include Peoria, you make
it 250,000 or more, etc., etc., etc.

It seems obvious here that something of this order has taken
place in this copyright settlement, something that stinks to
high heaven.