[Upd-discuss] Copyright Question

[Robin Millette]

Rob Myers wrote:
> On 12 Aug 2005, at 19:11, maitri venkat-ramani wrote:
> 
>> "X buys software that is under copyright, duplicates it, and hands out
>> copies to all of her friends.  Y xeroxes a book by her favorite author
>> and gives out copies.  Which of them is violating copyright laws?"
>>
>> I said that it was just X who was violating copyright.  Couldn't the
>> author of Y's book technically be in the public domain or under a CC
>> license?  The quiz said I was wrong; both have violated copyright law.
>> I disagree; the question was not clear enough.
>>
>> What do you think?
> 
> 
> Under copyright law, both are violations. Bulk copying for friends  
> isn't fair use. The friends may like the work and buy a copy each,  but 
> it is still copyright violation.

Actually, it's unclear that either are a violation. Everything is 
copyrighted (well, everything that can be, not words, titles, etc) until 
it reaches it's time. Still, you can copy a lot of stuff with the proper 
licence. I'm guessing the quiz authors didn't incorporate the GPL, LaL, 
CC or GFDL in their scenario, all of which permet unlimited copies.

-- 
Robin Millette, aka oqp http://rym.waglo.com/wordpress/
Cogitateurs-Agitateurs, http://cogitateurs-agitateurs.org/
FACIL, pour l'appropriation collective de l'informatique libre
http://facil.qc.ca/