more on legal points djf An author's dissent on

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: John Levine <johnl () iecc com>
Date: October 30, 2005 7:42:39 PM EST
To: Brad Templeton <btm () templetons com>
Cc: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on legal points djf An author's dissent on


> The real interesting lesson of the Google Print/Libraries story is
> an examination of how our copyright laws change.  A strict
> interpretation of copyright law as originally written and
> interpreted held it to prohibit just about all copies, with a
> limited number of fair use exceptions.

Really?  I distinctly recall a case from about 1909 in which the court
held that piano rolls did not infringe the sheet music from which they
were created.  The Congress amended the copyright act to change that.

If you look back, you will find that the trend in copyright law has
been to extend the exclusive rights granted to authors, not to limit
them.  The original act in 1790 covered maps, charts, and books for 14
years renewable for another 14.  In the 1800s, foreign works weren't
subject to copyright, and translations into other languages weren't
considered derivative works (an 1853 decision allowed a German
translation of Uncle Tom's Cabin.)  In the modern era, computer
software couldn't be copyrighted until John Banzhaf persuaded the
Copyright Office to register a program in the 1960s.

I realize that some people have argued that the transitory copies of
data in routers et al are in violation, but I think you will find no
statutory or case law to support that viewpoint, which puts it in the
category of wishful thinking, not of law.

There is an interesting legal point in the Google Print controversy
about whether the construction of an index permits intermediate full
electronic copies of books, as it does of web pages.  But this is
really a legal nitpick dressed up, as Tim O'Reilly pointed out, to
justify a money grab at Google.

R's,
John






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