Here is the essence of the problem. In your imaginary world, people don't require paychecks and thieves do not hang their heads in shame. Asked and answered. What?? I'd tell him, "Are you fugging crazy? Do you know how many libraries there are? It's the steadiest, hardcover-buying, high-paying book market in the world! It's automatic sales. Getting on a hot library acquisition list gives author's a boner, you schmuck! It gets targeted exposure specifically to millions of book lovers. Reprints, revised editions, . . . the checks just keep on coming. It's like getting your bloody record played on the radio. You might as well tell Oprah that you are embarrased to be on her top-10 list. Geeeezus!"
Martin, your "logic" has so many flaws in in it, it is difficult to know where to start. As simply as I can put it, published products such as songs, books, encyclopedias, etc., are protected by copywrite laws. Therefore it is stealing to copy these without permission in order to avoid paying the royalties the authors are entitled to. It is no different than walking into a store, stuffing an item in your pocket and walking out without paying for it. It does not matter if piracy does not "feel" like stealing; it is not called piracy for nothing. The authors have a moral and legal right to be compensated for the use of their property. Your joke analogy completely misses the point. Your joke was not published. As a result it is part of the public domain and is not protected by copywrite laws.
you dont have to be published to be copyrighted, i am totally certain that if you write a song, technically it is copyrighted the moment you write it down or record it. presumably this applies to written material as well. so my joke is copyrighted. it just isnt protected. but not because it is any more or less moral to steal my joke. only because it is less enforceable. this is the key to this whole discussion. what is right and wrong is not being determined by reason, but by what the copyright holders can get away with. except for the fact that stealing information results in no loss of of information from the person who gave it to me. it is absoltely not the same, and shouldnt be treated the same. pay attention here. if i go into a store and lift something, the store no longer has it. the work they put into creating it is gone. they no longer have the value of the item, i have it, i stole it. information is different. if i copy your cd, you still have it and can enjoy it just as much as before. cant you see how this would make the legal aspects different?
you have fallen into my expertly placed trap! of course you tell him that! you are correct. freely available copies of his book for everyone to read do not hurt his sales! they help him! it doesnt matter what he thinks, right? it doesnt matter if he thinks his property is his and should not be allowed in the library! fugg him! his wishes can eat my ass. exactly. this is what i tell the musician. you do not like that we are distributing your music? too bad jerkoff! when your concert attendance triples, and you sell your song to be the theme for a diet coke commercial, and even your cd sales increase, groupies are lining up to give you a rusty trombone, you will thank me.
A copyright is a legal right granted to an author, songwriter, playwriter or publisher to exclusive publication, distribution, production or sale of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work. Where in the world did you get the idea your joke is copyrighted?
You missed the point completely. Library books are not stolen, they are purchased freely available copies for everyone to read. They are not available to copy illegally. You can read one as many times as you wish, but if you want to own it, you must buy a legal copy. Everyone can listen to any CD you purchase legally, too, or hear on the radio. As many times as they want. But they cannot make illegal copies of it for their personal use. Here are some terms you learned in the second grade and seem to have forgotten. lis·ten –verb 1. to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear. 2. to pay attention; heed; obey 3. to wait attentively for a sound du·pli·cate –verb 1. to make an exact copy of. 2. to do or perform again; repeat. 3. to double; make twofold. steal –verb 1. to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force. 2. to appropriate (ideas, credit, words, etc.) without right or acknowledgment. 3. to take, get, or win insidiously, surreptitiously, subtly, or by chance.
so is music. you purchase it, upload it to me and our million friends. like a big library. why would i buy it when i can read it as many times as i want for free? (rhetorical question, the point is that just because something is available free doesnt mean the author doesnt make any money from it.) the point i was getting at earlier was that people thought the free listening on the radio would kill the industry. people can just record whatever they want for free! it is nuts! what about the musicians! (same thing with vcrs). but it didnt happen. the free distribution only helps the stuff become more popular. i see we have reached the point in the discussion where you rev up the dictionary, this is bad news for me, as i am explaining somthing more complicated than a definition.
You may or may not be the author and you may or may not have copyright protection. If you are a professional comic and your material is recorded, videoed, or transcribed, then that material is offered protection, within certain limits. Joke Book no Joke Standups Square off over fat joke But if you are an amateur and you simply tell a joke, then it is very likely to be considered in the public domain, since you did not publish it in some fashion. Without that, it cannot be compared to possible subsequent jokes that could be illegal copies, nor can it be compared to possible earlier jokes to insure that you did not illegally steal it from its true author or, more commonly, simply repeated another joke already in the public domain. Indeed, if you do not publish the joke, you cannot prove that you actualy wrote it or when.
