quoted 7 lines If you hold the copyright one a work, you also have the right to
>> If you hold the copyright one a work, you also have the right to
>> control any works that are derived from your original work. This is a
>> very well-established aspect of copyright law.
>
> ok. but is it fair/correct...? I understand an artist's interest in
> preventing outright *duplication* of his work without his permission,
> with no changes made to it... but derivated works!?!
Yes, derived works. I don't have a major moral problem with that; why
should someone be able to sample a killer hook from some #1 pop song without
permission and then make all kinds of money on the cheesy bubblegum-techno
wankfest they hang off it? Seems to me that the people responsible for the
success of something like that -- i.e., the guys who wrote that hook in the
first place -- ought to have a say in the matter...
quoted 4 lines (its possible i missed some details on the legal dispute, but none that
> (its possible i missed some details on the legal dispute, but none that
> would change my overall point. if my shady memory halfway serves,
> another example was microsoft being sued for utilizing (not copying!)
> the mac "look"...the case was denied.
The legal thinking behind these decisions is that you can't copyright the
layout of controls for a piece of software any more than you can copyright
the layout of buttons on the front panel of a VCR; the creative component
necessary for copyright isn't there.
quoted 6 lines Yes. If a work is performed in public, the artist has the right to demand
>> Yes. If a work is performed in public, the artist has the right to demand
>> royalties. That includes live DJ gigs.
>
> ok. again thanks for clarifying. but if a work is mixed up with other
> works, say four layers on top of one another, who is being creative at
> that point...?
Adding your own creative contribution to a work doesn't remove your
obligation to the people who made the tools you used. If you use someone
else's creative work as part of your creative work, then that someone else
should get their fair credit for it.
--
::: Lazlo (lazlo@swcp.com;
http://www.swcp.com/lazlo)