General Category > Comic Related Discussion
PD law - 'Manufacturing consent and copyright law'
John C:
Right. The law is saying that, if the true copyright owner catches you, you're only obligated to retroactively license the work from them, nothing more. And they must sue to get that.
(This is why it's pro-big-business, incidentally: By the definitions provided, it basically says that whoever's biggest wins. If you infringe on DC, they can sue you for lost revenue of arbitrarily large size. If they infringe on you, they pay "reasonable compensation." And you can't collect legal fees if they show evidence that "they tried really hard.")
Having read the bills, I can't help but notice that it just codifies the existing (insufficient) system. In fact, it never orphans the damned work! If you use the work successfully without getting sued, there's no reason to expect that I can't be sued for doing exactly the same thing.
The right way (if nobody minds me crossing the streams) is simply to revoke a single line in the 1976 Act. It says that copyright is never lost by failure to comply with the Copyright Office. Remove it, and we have a process: I want to print and continue a webcomic that hasn't been updated in years, let's say. I notice there's no registration or copies placed on file at the Library of Congress, so I petition to have them demand it happen (which I believe can happen now). If the owner doesn't comply with the request, the copyright is void.
That doesn't introduce any anti-Berne "formal requirement," doesn't create a burden on the artist or owner, and creates a clear path for declaring the work orphaned and in the public domain. Too simple, though, when the entire system runs on lobbyists.
JVJ (RIP):
Yes, indeed, John,
VERY slanted towards the big guns and to the detriment of the "starving artists".
Sadly, your suggestion for solving the problem won't ever happen - no lawyers = no lawyer fees. And after all, laws are made by lawyers, for lawyers, not as logical solutions to real life problems.
(|:{>
narfstar:
--- Quote from: JVJ on April 12, 2010, 03:47:33 PM --- And after all, laws are made by lawyers, for lawyers, not as logical solutions to real life problems.
(|:{>
--- End quote ---
Which I have always considered a huge conflict of interest. As a teacher I can not be on the school board but lawyers can make laws to keep lawyers high paid
John C:
--- Quote from: JVJ on April 12, 2010, 03:47:33 PM ---Sadly, your suggestion for solving the problem won't ever happen - no lawyers = no lawyer fees. And after all, laws are made by lawyers, for lawyers, not as logical solutions to real life problems.
--- End quote ---
True, it errs on the Shakespearean ("kill all the lawyers," and so forth), but I did throw them the bone of the petition. I'd certainly hire a lawyer to file it and make sure everything checks out.
narfstar:
Were copyrights renewed on Pines Dinky Duck comics? Dinky was from CBS
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