Posted by PTravel on 12/06/06 04:32

"Bob Quintal" <rquintal@sPAmpatico.ca> wrote in message
news:Xns9890D62F9D206BQuintal@66.150.105.47...
> "PTravel" <ptravel@travelersvideo.com> wrote in
> news:4tlu5rF137gfqU1@mid.individual.net:
>
>>
>> "Paul Rubin" <http://phr.cx@NOSPAM.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:7xodqidhj7.fsf@ruckus.brouhaha.com...
>>> "PTravel" <ptravel@travelersvideo.com> writes:
>>>> > No amendment to the constitution would be needed to make
>>>> > all copyrights expire 24 hours after being issued, or to
>>>> > stop issuing them altogether.
>>>>
>>>> True, but that's not going to happen. Why in the world
>>>> should a copyright
>>>> expire after 24 hours, or not issue at all?
>>>
>>> Well, you were the one that brought up constitutional
>>> amendments. I'm pointing out that no amendment would be
>>> needed to make such a change. Whether such a change is
>>> desirable is a political question, and as with any such
>>> question, opinions vary.
>>
>> The post to which I replied argued that copyright infringement
>> doesn't really harm the copyright holder. Article I, Section
>> 8 of the Constitution reserves to the author the rights
>> protected by copyright. In order to consider "harm to the
>> copyright owner" in determining infringement liability, a
>> Constitutional amendment would be necessary to change Article
>> I, Section 8's exclusion rights reservation.
>>
> And if you were to read the article and section in question,
> you would have seen it states "The Congress shall have Power
> [...]To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by
> securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the
> exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
>
> 1: Copyright protection is limited to authors and Inventors
> --Not to publishers and agents.

Copyright is a property interest and, as such, assignable.

>
> 2: Copyright protection must promote the 'Progress of Science
> and useful Arts'
> --useful Arts as understood at the time the document was created
> is called Engineering today.

Sorry, no. It does not mean "engineering," nor was copyright restricted as
you claim.

> --Not meant to apply to general fiction, music, painting, dance.
>
> 3: 'for limited Times'
> --Not forever and a day. Too long a term fails to protect
> Science and useful Arts by preventing other than the copyright
> holder from accessing and using the knowledge in the copyrighted
> material.

Okay, you're still not tracking here. Article I, Section 8 does not
protect a copyright owner from "relative harm." It grants exclusive rights.
That's what we're talking about, not copyright terms, not your mistaken
belief that copyright is not assignable, and certainly not the fiction that
copyright is limited to writings about engineering.



>
>
> --
> Bob Quintal
>
> PA is y I've altered my email address.
>
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> Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
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