Re: CLUEBAT: copyrights, infringement, violations, and legality

[Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl>]

On Sun, Feb 02, 2003 at 03:44:47PM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 30, 2003 at 10:30:38AM -0500, Bob Hilliard wrote:
> >      Euclid lived and worked in a Greek culture, under Greek laws.
> > The apostles lived and wrote in predominantly Greek cultures, under
> > Roman Laws.
> 
> I think you're missing my point.  If copyrights are natural rights, then
> ancient Greeks and Romans who authored creative works had those rights
> irrespective of whether recognition of those rights was codified in the
> laws governing them.

I think I can give a useful example here: the ancient Greeks and
Romans also kept slaves.  Doing so was acceptable according to
their culture and laws, but we still think it was wrong.
The difference is precisely that we consider freedom to be a
natural right, while copyright is not.

Richard Braakman