[WEB4LIB] Copyright definitions

[Daniel Messer]

"Drew, Bill" <drewwe at MORRISVILLE.EDU> said:

> The problem really boils down to who owns the copyright and how willing are
> they to allow access to it.  One of the biggest obstacles is that the
> creator may not be the copyright holder.   He/she has generally given up the
> right to reproduce, publish, and sell the work.  As I see it, hackers of
> DVDs feel free to hack into DVDs because the actual creators of the work are
> not the owners of the work?  I can sympathize with that view point now.

Exactly. Who owns the rights to the movie? The distribution company most of 
the time (ie Warner Bros, Touchstone, etc.)has the rights to reproduce and 
copy and distribute as much as they feel the need. I seem to remember a 
problem years back when a popular band (I think it was the Beatles, but I'm 
not for sure.) had to sue for the rights to their own music because they 
didn't like the way the legal owners were using it. Most musicians and 
performers and writers do NOT own the rights to their own work. 

The thing is that DeCSS is NOT used to copy DVDs. It is usually mearly used 
to play DVDs on CD drives that did not pay the MPAA a fee for the use of the 
DVD technology. What the MPAA is saying is that it is perfectly legal for 
them to hold a copyright on a code which forces people to buy DVD players 
from companies who have paid a fee for access on how to use this code. 
However it should be illegal for someone to figure out how the code works and 
use it for their own devices. Not only that, they're saying that it's a 
violation of their copyright to even write out the METHOD used to defeat this 
code.

That's like saying Ford should have sued Chevrolet for making cars similar to 
a Ford and using methods similar to Ford's. Ford should also go after 
Chevrolet for making blueprints of Chevrolet cars. Make sense to anyone else? 
Certainly not to me.

Dan

Dan


-- 
The subject in question...
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Daniel Messer
Technologies Instructor
Yakima Valley Regional Library
dmesser at yvrls.lib.wa.us
509-452-8541 ext 712
102 N 3rd St  Yakima, WA  98901
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
                                         -Hunter S. Thompson