Re: Freeness of licence for wwwcount?

[Michael Poole <mdpoole@troilus.org>]

Joe Smith writes:

>> You are confusing limited fair use rights (which only exist in some
>> jurisdictions) with substantial rights to copy and modify a work.
>
> WelltThat may be true, but in the US one cannot commit copyright infringment 
> by simply modifying a tangible copy of a work, only by copying it. (After 
> all, if you bought the book, why should the author be aple to prevent you 
> from annotating it? Fist sale should also allow you to sell your commented 
> copy.)

This analogy between software and hard copies is deeply flawed.  Under
17 USC 117(a), modificaton of a program is only permitted as an
essential step in the utilization of the program.  Under 17 USC
117(b), you need authorization from the copyright owner to transfer
software that has been modified in that way.  Criticism and comment
(what I think you mean by "annotating [a book]") are protected as fair
use in 17 USC 107; functional change and elaboration are not.

>  Also in general (classical copyright law) there are no real 
> restrictions on private copying, except in the case where you dispose of the 
> original. In that case you must dispose of the copies in the exact same way, 
> or destroy said copies.

I do not know what "classical copyright law" is, but that is not the
case under any modern system that I know of.

Michael Poole