[Upd-discuss] Public Domain is a Crime

[michael.davis@law.csuohio.edu]

There should be no need for a film projector and definitely no need for
the film itself. IF the original is on the digital product, there should
be no problem extracting it in its original form--analog video and analog
sound--all you are doing is taking the public domain material,not the
digitized version.


> Of course-- my point is that unless they are otherwise digitized/put on
> video/etc., they become de facto under copyright, since very few people
> have
> access to film projectors (let alone the films themselves)...
>
> Quoting michael.davis@law.csuohio.edu:
>
>> You must realize however that those works are derivative works only to
>> the
>> extent of the new treatment. The underlying original work is still
>> public
>> domain material and freely useable.
>>The
>>
>> > Quoting Yannick Delbecque <yannick.delbecque@mail.mcgill.ca>:
>> >
>> >> [2005-12-16 12:48, P.L.Hayes]
>> >> > "a film will still be copyrighted even if it is in the public
>> domain"
>> >> >
>> >> > "Please let me know what you think about this."
>> >>
>> >> Apart from making me speculate about the incompetence of this person,
>> >> this make me think about ways to promote explicitely the protection
>> and
>> >> widest possible usage of public domain material.
>> >>
>> >> One possible way to achive this could be to legally force anyone
>> using
>> >> public domain material in a new work or product to identify it
>> >> explicitely as such. If DVDs were distributed beginning with a video
>> >> notice like "This work is in the public domain" instead of the overly
>> >> repeted message that it is criminal to share the movie, many people
>> >> might start to think about using these work themselves.
>> >
>> > This reminds me of a (US) case I recently read that ruled that a video
>> of
>> > a film
>> > that had fallen into the public domain due to lack of renewal was
>> still a
>> > valid
>> > derivative work and was thus protectable under copyright law. (Maljack
>> > Prods.
>> > v. UAV Corp.) The creators of the video had merely digitized the
>> > soundtrack
>> > ("sweetened, equalized, balanced, made into stereo" as they claimed)
>> and
>> > changed the aspect ratio of the film, but the court ruled that this
>> was
>> > sufficient to constitute a derivative work. Thus by extension, even
>> DVD
>> > versions of PD films may still be under copyright. I'm not sure if
>> there's
>> > been
>> > a case on the DVD issue in particular, but it would be interesting to
>> see.
>> >
>> > I find this particularly troubling because many PD films are not
>> available
>> > in
>> > digital format (of course we should encourage digitization efforts
>> such as
>> > by
>> > the internet archive), and thus since putting a PD film on DVD
>> requires
>> > audio/video digitization and changing of aspect ratio, PD films
>> released
>> > on DVD
>> > can regain copyright protection. Even if a court were to rule that
>> mere
>> > digitization alone was not sufficient, those creating such DVDs could
>> > easily
>> > "sweeten" the soundtrack to make it protectable...
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Yannick Delbecque - http://yannick.delbecque.org
>> >> Cogitateurs-Agitateurs - http://cogitateurs-agitateurs.org
>> >> FACIL, pour l'appropriation collective de l'informatique libre -
>> >> http://facil.qc.ca
>> >>
>> >>
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>> >>
>> >
>> >
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>>
>>
>> Mickey Davis
>> _________________________________
>> Prof. Michael H. Davis
>> Professor of Law
>> Cleveland State Univ. College of Law
>> 1801 Euclid Ave.
>> Cleveland, OH 44115-2214
>> (mailing address: 2121 Euclid Ave. LB 234)
>> 216-687-2228
>> _____________________________________________________________
>> Patent Attorney Admitted to Practice Before the US Patent and Trademark
>> Office Reg.No. 45,863
>>
>>
>
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Mickey Davis
_________________________________
Prof. Michael H. Davis
Professor of Law
Cleveland State Univ. College of Law
1801 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44115-2214
(mailing address: 2121 Euclid Ave. LB 234)
216-687-2228
_____________________________________________________________
Patent Attorney Admitted to Practice Before the US Patent and Trademark
Office Reg.No. 45,863