Too Quick to Copyright

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 15:52:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <jhall () SIMS Berkeley EDU>
Subject: Too Quick to Copyright
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>, Dave Farber <dave () farber net>



A quick, compelling read... -jlh

---
http://www.brooklaw.edu/faculty/news/mazzone_legtimes_2003-11-17.pdf

Too Quick to Copyright
by Jason Mazzone [Brooklyn Law School]

Companies cheat the law and the public by claiming ownership over too
much stuff.

[...]

Copyright law gives corporations an irresistible urge to claim
ownership, however spurious, in everything. The Copyright Act provides
no penalty for falsely claiming ownership in public domain materials,
and there is no reward for catching this form of cheating. So
corporations stick copyright notices everywhere. And while the U.S.
Copyright Office registers copyrighted works, there is no official
registry for works belonging to the public.

[...]

Congress should amend the Copyright Act to make actionable
false claims to copyright in the same way that consumers may
sue businesses for false advertising.

[...]


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Lorenzo Hall                    http://pobox.com/~joehall/
Graduate Student             blog: http://pobox.com/~joehall/nqb/

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