Dragaera

Dumas v. Brust (was: Artificial release dates and online publishing)

Mon Dec 16 09:18:40 PST 2002

J.Jasper wrote:
> Greg Rapawy wrote:
>>
>> --- David Dyer-Bennet <dd-b at dd-b.net> wrote:
>> [...]
>>> Quite a lot of interesting literary work has come
>>> out of the Sherlock Holmes universe, after the
>>> estate no longer controlled it.  A lot of
>>> literature is heavily based on Shakespeare, and
>>> couldn't be if he were still in copyright (consider
>>> Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead).
>>> I think we agreed earlier that it's important things
>>> go into the pot, and the question is *when*.
>>
>> As an example of particular interest, the Paarfi
>> romances might well infringe Dumas' copyright if
>> Dumas' works were presently in copyright under modern
>> American copyright law.  (They wouldn't have under the
>> law at the time Dumas wrote, both because foreign
>> works were not then covered by American copyright and
>> because infringement was then defined much more
>> narrowly.)
>>
>> There might be a viable fair use defense, though.  In
>> recent years, courts have been broadening the fair use
>> doctrine for what are referred to as "transformative"
>> works -- works that create new art through the
>> innovative use of old material, including but not
>> limited to parody.  For example, a federal court of
>> appeals ultimately reversed the preliminary injunction
>> against the publication of "The Wind Done Gone," a
>> case which was widely covered in the press.
>>
>> I think a court could go either way on the question.
>
> These days, it mostly depends on who installed the judges.  The
> current government in the USA seems to be mostly interested in
> extending copyright for as long as they're paid to do so.  The current
> administration seem to think it can extend any US law it likes
> anywhere in the world and bully other nations into accepting the
> change.
>
> In short, expect things to get worse.

I do, and then I expect "Bloody Revolution'. Though I've got hopes of an
'Inteligence Revolution' which is not the same as what recently passed as
the 'Imformation Revolution'