[LINK] Content monopolies

[Howard Lowndes]

On Tue, 1 Apr 2003 bscott at gtlaw.com.au wrote:

> 
> There's no magic to statutory monopoly.  Statutory is just an adjective.
> What it means is that (a) it's a monopoly and (b) the source of that
> monopoly is a statute (in this case the Copyright Act 1968 as amended). The
> monopoly in question is the right (among others) to make a reproduction of
> a work, an exclusive right which vests in the holder of copyright.
> 
> Property law is also a monopoly. If I own a pen I have the exclusive right
> to deal with that pen to the exclusion of all others. The reason I refer to
> a pen analogy is that it is still a monopoly even though the monopoly is on
> a small scale (as opposed, for example, to a monopoly over oil production
> or mail services).
> 
> The difference between property and legislative content monopolies (such as
> copyright) is that property rights exist independent of legislation (ie
> they exist at common law) but content monopolies like copyright don't.  If
> all legislation was repealed tomorrow it would still be against the law for
> someone to deal with my pen contrary to my wishes (because property exists
> at common law), but I would not have any ability to prevent other people
> making reproductions of (eg) this email (because copyright is a creature of
> statute and we've assumed all statues have been repealed).
> 
> Brendan

Tks for that B, but do you see my point about how a phrase can be 
otherwise construed :)

> 
> (iaalbtinla)

Shouldn't all lawyers have this tattooed on their foreheads :)

>                                                                                                                        
>                       Howard Lowndes                                                                                   
>                       <lannet at lannet.co        To:       "Chirgwin, Richard" <Richard.Chirgwin at informa.com.au>         
>                       m.au>                    cc:       link at anu.edu.au                                               
>                       Sent by:                 Subject:  RE: [LINK] DCMA note (was democracy after it was Al-Jazeera)  
>                       link-bounces at anu.                                                                                
>                       edu.au                                                                                           
>                                                                                                                        
>                                                                                                                        
>                       01/04/03 09:15 AM                                                                                
>                                                                                                                        
>                                                                                                                        
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, 1 Apr 2003, Chirgwin, Richard wrote:
> 
> > I stand partly corrected, Brendan.
> > > You don't need to register copyright in the US (any more).
> > No, but the courts look to registration as the primary evidence. The
> > copyright office's Website in the US says:
> > >Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration
> > >is necessary for works of U. S. origin.
> >
> > So OK, I was sloppy but not entirely wrong! :-)
> >
> > > Also, copyright is a statutory monopoly in Australia, not a
> > > "common law
> > > right" per Donaldson v Beckett (1774)
> 
> So would I if I knew what a "statutory monopoly" was.  It sounds more like
> an organisation such as Australia Post, Air Services Australia, et al, but
> probably means something entirely different.
> 
> >
> > Oops. OK, I'll take the lawyer's word on that!
> >
> > > the US
> > > government doesn't claim copyright over material that has
> > > been produced
> > > with taxpayer dollars.
> >
> > Ok; but there are reasons for claiming copyright that don't have to do
> with
> > claiming money, merely a requirement to associate a document with its
> > author.
> >
> > Richard Chirgwin
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Link mailing list
> > Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
> >
> 
> --
> Howard.
> LANNet Computing Associates - Your Linux people <http://www.lannetlinux.com
> >
> ------------------------------------------
> Flatter government, not fatter government - Get rid of the Australian
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> 
> 
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> Brendan Scott
> Lawyer
> 
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> 

-- 
Howard.
LANNet Computing Associates - Your Linux people <http://www.lannetlinux.com>
------------------------------------------
Flatter government, not fatter government - Get rid of the Australian states.
------------------------------------------
I before E except after C. We live in a weird society!