Re: ITP: vice and vice-roms
On Sun, Feb 20, 2000 at 10:31:01PM -0600, David Starner wrote:
>
> IIRC, ceasing to exist just takes the copyrights with you, and no one
> has the right to use them. (All at once, "We love the copyright laws!
> We love the copyright laws!" (-: )
>
Hmm.. This is an interesting situation. I don't think it would be Congress'
intent for copyright to cover a work after all those having an interest in
profits it may produce have perished. After all, the constitution provides
only for promoting the progress of useful arts by securing for a limited
amount of time the author's exclusive right to their works. If the author is
gone, and so is anyone that the author had designated to benefit from their
work, then copyright no longer works to satisfy the requirements of Article
1 Section 8 and is likely no longer permitted. Article 1 Section 8 is the
only thing granting Congress the authority to abridge speech or the press.
Other than that, "Congress shall make no law..."
Until recently, copyright law was entirely civil. So assuming the copyright
owner was dead and there were no heirs, nobody could sue you for
infringement and thus for practical purposes, the copyright no longer
existed. It seems recently enacted legislation (NET, DMCA?) has made
copyright infringement a criminal matter as well now - so even if the
copyright holder isn't around to go after you for infringement, law
enforcement might.
Of course, IANAL, so it's better ask one. Also, the situation will likely be
different in countries where copyright is not permitted only by such a
limited exception to otherwise free speech / free press or where copyright
law is still entirely civil.
--
Brian Ristuccia
brianr@osiris.978.org
bristucc@nortelnetworks.com
bristucc@cs.uml.edu
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