[dvd-discuss] Distribution (Was: Eldred Being Argued Today)

["D. C. Sessions" <dvd(at)lumbercartel.com>]

On Wed, 2002-10-09 at 08:58, John Zulauf wrote:
> Michael A Rolenz wrote:
> > as for the SGA...this is
> > incredible! How often do these songs get played today? How many people
> > know the tunes? I can say that I do only because the last two are one's
> > that my parents still hum or sing because they learned them in their
> > youth. But what an incredible Whine "OHHHHH alll this stuff will enter the
> > public domain if you don't keep extending copyright and we can't have that
> > even though some of you don't even know the tunes..."
> 
> Actually the counter argument to this is that the reason WHY nobody
> knows these tunes (when we all should) IS long copyrights.  One of the
> benefits of the public domain is that it act to make all people living
> archivists.  Long copyrights mean that only corporations have the means
> and opportunity to archive -- and aside from the occasional over-priced
> "Time-Life" 19.95 per each disc/book/VHS/DVD series these self-same
> corporations have little to no motivation.

One of the arguments that the Cartel advanced today (IIRC and
IIUC) was that without exclusive distribution rights, nobody
would distribute the old material at all.  Thus, the crucial
importance of retroactive extension: it ensures distribution
of material which would otherwise be unavailable.

In other words, if AOL Time Warner couldn't prevent others
from distributing Casablanca, a great cultural treasure
would be lost forever.

Pardon me while I go out to pick up a copy of that
watershed acoustic album, "Frummox."

-- 
| It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance  |
|  It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance  |
|   It's the one who won't be taken who cannot seem to give     |
|    and the soul afraid of dyin' that never learns to live     |
+------------- D. C. Sessions <dcs@lumbercartel.com> -----------+