Re: <nettime> Copyright and forgery

[Decklin Foster <fosterd {AT} hartwick.edu>]

Benjamin Geer writes:

> Random House should be allowed to publish their novel, but they
> shouldn't be allowed to use Joyce's name or the title _Ulysses_.

Oh, I certainly agree. Think about the tradeoff here: I get assurance that
what what I buy is the `real thing'. I lose, well, nothing;  Random House
can still publish their book with a more truthful name.  Of course, if
their original intention was to dupe me, they lose -- but this is exactly
what we want. 

It should be noted that this isn't really a copyright issue; it falls more
under the heading of `fraud'. We could continue with our current system of
copyright and enforce this; we could reform copyright and enforce this; we
could abolish copyright and still enforce this. 

The important thing is that every law is seen as a tradeoff and every
tradeoff is judged on its benefit to society as a whole. IMHO, we're not
doing this with copyright law. 

-- 
There is no TRUTH. There is no REALITY. There is no CONSISTENCY. There
are no ABSOLUTE STATEMENTS. I'm very probably wrong. -- BSD fortune(6)



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