Re: [dvd-discuss] Eldred Amicus

[Kurt Hockenbury <khockenb(at)stevens-tech.edu>]

On Wed, 29 May 2002, Ernest Miller wrote:

> This reminds me of the idea of a tax. If copyright is property, then it
> should be subject to a property tax, right?  One of the reasons we tax
> property is to encourage its use.  We don't want property to stand idle.
>   Same goes for copyrighted works.  If you are still using it, you pay a
> tax, and can afford it.  If you choose not to pay a tax, it goes into
> the public domain.

Interesting.

If the publishing industry insists on calling distribution of copies as
"piracy", I have made the suggestion that duplication of unavailable works be
referred to as "salvage".

So when someone digitizes a 30 year old, never re-released vinyl album and
makes it available, they are engaged in a "salvage operation of intellectual
property".

See also "abandonware".

What other odd ideas can we pull out of the "property" metaphor?