[LINK] Legal processes are not obvious [was: "Men at work" up a gum tree]

[Craig Sanders]

On Fri, Feb 05, 2010 at 11:43:46AM +1100, Kim Holburn wrote:
> In all our copyright law (or IP laws) there is no-one looking at or  
> speaking for the public domain.

which is one of the big problems with current copyright law, and current
interpretation and enforcement of it.

the emphasis is entirely on enforcing statutory rights of copyright
holders with little, if any, attention paid to the natural rights of
people.


> It may be that the judge can only rule on what is placed before him  
> but we have a system where anyone can register copyright a public  
> domain work and no-one questions it (unless they are taken to court).
> 
> If it is the case that the Kookaburra tune does come from the Welsh  
> folk song then these guys have been making money off something that  
> didn't belong to them.

making money off a public domain work isn't wrong.

claiming ownership and/or preventing others from using it is.

that's what i call theft from the commons - the misappropriation of
something that belongs to no-one/everyone. like trademarking the colour
purple, claiming ownership of particular words or phrases or spellings
thereof, laying claim to ideas (rather than specific inventions) or
themes/settings/characters (rather than specific creative works), or
patenting discoverable facts about the universe (such as genes, or
effects of drugs), and the many other things that the thieving vermin of
the copyright and patent industries are trying to tie up for their own
exclusive posession.


which is the reason for my .sig line...an "IP"-specific variation of
Proudhon's "Property is Theft".  I also like the effect of the slight
ambiguity between common and Commons.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>

Intellectual Property is Commons Theft