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RE: [dvd-discuss] COMDEX speech



Exactly.  Which is why I would advocate the establishment
of a legal distinction similar to the one between "patent"
and "trade secret".  Basically you have two choices: protection
by law, or protection by private arrangement.  If you choose
protection under the law, everything is disclosed.  Anybody
who abuses the material gets prosecuted under the law.  If you
choose protection by private arrangement then when that arrangement
fails you have no recourse under the law.  


-- 
-Richard M. Hartman
hartman@onetouch.com

186,000 mi/sec: not just a good idea, it's the LAW!



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Hosgood [mailto:steve@caederus.com]
> Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 3:00 AM
> To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
> Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] COMDEX speech 
> 
> 
> Michael Rolenz writes:
> > Nor does the copyright clause [...] exist for him to maximize 
> > his profits.
> > 
> 
> Oh, come on! Of course it does. The whole reason for 
> copyright is to allow
> people to publish their works and not have any profits syphoned off by
> freeloaders copying the things and selling it in competition 
> with the author.
> 
> Quite right too IMHO. For a limited period.
> 
> Surely that's the crux of it.
> Limited period must mean limited.
> After that point, all existing copies of the copyrighted work 
> become public
> domain. That in turn implies that they must be out there in a 
> form which allows
> them to be used and copied freely after the copyright expires.
> 
> Therefore no DRM may be allowed on a copyrighted work.
> 
> Looking at it from the other angle, copyright exists to 
> remedy the physical
> problem that in order to be usable by the public, a work is inherently
> copyable.
> 
> The law steps in to bar that copying for a time. But implied 
> in all that is
> the concept that the work was copyable in the first place. 
> DRM removes that
> 'feature' by technology, thus copyright is no longer applicable.
> 
> --
> 
> Steve Hosgood                               |
> steve@caederus.com                          | "A good plan 
> today is better
> Phone: +44 1792 203707 + ask for Steve      |   than a 
> perfect plan tomorrow"
> Fax:   +44 70922 70944                      |              - 
> Conrad Brean
> --------------------------------------------+
>         http://tallyho.bc.nu/~steve         |  ( from the 
> film "Wag the Dog" )
> 
> 
>