On Wed, Dec 11, 2002 at 12:34:37PM -0500, Scott Ingram <singram at videotron.ca> wrote: > Are there exceptions? Are there extreme cases (such as your memory copying > machine and AIDS drugs). Yes, there are always extreme cases and exceptions. > But you can't base laws on *exceptions* and *extreme cases*. Not every > patent is a matter of life or death. And certainly, artwork and music in > games is not a matter of life or death. These aren't really exceptions. They're just good propaganda. Copyright law takes into account commercial vs non-commercial use, so you could probably get away with taking your gargoyle suit to the Louvre and then showing your friends the tape. AIDS drugs fall under the category of "if you want people to produce the work, it must be possible to make a profit". Third-World governments with AIDS epidemics don't want to pay the market price for AIDS drugs, because they really can't afford to, but dying humans makes good PR for begging. We can't all drive fancy cars, either... -- Matthew Hunter (matthew at infodancer.org) Public Key: http://matthew.infodancer.org/public_key.txt Homepage: http://matthew.infodancer.org/index.jsp Politics: http://www.triggerfinger.org/index.jsp