Posted by eawckyegcy on 12/05/06 17:22

Bill wrote:

> Very stern, Steve. Okay. Let's say we start looking at where Disney
> stole "Lion King" from-- and shall we punish Disney "vigorously"? How
> about all those movies and tv shows that recycle the same plot
> endlessly: Lucy/Gilligan/Archie/Monica thinks everyone has forgotten
> her birthday... How about I, IV, V in jazz or rock'n'roll?
> Compression in recording? The steadicam shot? The idea of a talking
> animal?

You appear to be confusing patent with copyright. Or something.

> The most ridiculous idea to come out of the digital age is that
> copyright is "absolute". It is not, never has been, and never was
> intended to be. For one thing, there has always been and always should
> be "fair use" even if all the Republicans in Washington are doing
> everything they can to eliminate it. Nobody creates in a vacuum, and
> nobody invents a new technology (musical instrument, paint, or language)
> everytime they create an "original" work of art. There is always some
> degree of borrowing, and that is the reason by no copyright is
> "absolute". You benefit from the work of others that came before you
> and the ones who follow benefit from your work.

I don't think anyone has argued copyright is "absolute", but if you
want to tilt at that windmill, who am I to stop you?

> Those aren't "psychopaths"-- they are mostly kids who want to share the
> touchstones of modern culture with each other. They could be forgiven
> for thinking that that is exactly the aim of the music/television/film
> industry.

Frankly, people who are uploading episodes of TeeVee programs need to
be subject to extreme punishment ... for exercising poor taste. The
Internet is a marvel of the modern world, created and maintained by an
army of technical elites, and some doughhead in Peoria is using it to
"share" a "touchstone" of "modern culture" (cough!)? Call me less than
impressed.

> People of good sense want to find a balance that allows creative people
> to profit properly from their work while preserving open cultural
> dialogue and keeping history in the public domain. It is absolutely
> wrong, for example, that "Eye on the Prize" is going to become
> unavailable to an entire generation of students because of the greed of
> copyright owners and their congressional toadies.

Short of vast quantities of IP lawyer blood flowing in the streets, the
current Copyright Cartel will not be broken. You seem like an idealist
to me: I suggest you subvert the system from within. Instead of
absorbing the brain-killing crap from Hollywood and its analogs, why
not create it and license it under the GFDL, CC-by-SA, or similar?
Rather than spend $5k on a wide-screen TeeVee to view this shit, why
not cough up the dough for the recorder instead? Question: is it
possible to create a movie (short, long) via the wiki process? I don't
think anyone knows the answer. Why not find out instead of making
yourself look silly on USENET?

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