Semi-OT: Congress about to limit artists' copyright rights

[Hal Duston]

On Sun, Jun 01, 2008 at 06:20:14AM +0000, Luke -Jr wrote:
> On Sunday 01 June 2008, Leo Mauler wrote:
> > --- On Sat, 5/31/08, Hal Duston <hald at kc.rr.com> wrote:
> > > There appears to be a serious misunderstanding of the
> > > difference between copyrights and patents.  If I implement
> > > an idea and it is found to be sufficiently similiar to a
> > > pre-existing patent, then I am in violation of that patent
> > > even if I am unware of its existence.  If I create a work
> > > that is found to be similar to a pre-existing copyrighted
> > > work, my ignorance of that work is a perfect defense, as I
> > > am not violating the other creator's copyright even if my
> > > created work is found to be identical.
> >
> > I suspect that your hypothesis here isn't accurate.  If "my ignorance of
> > that other work is a perfect defense...even if my created work is found to
> > be identical", then there is nothing illegal with taking an existing work,
> > erasing all traces of the previous author, making some superficial changes,
> > and then passing off the entire work as my own.  Moreover, if there was no
> > penalty for this behavior, I would also be allowed to make money off "my
> > own song single 'Imagine (This)', hauntingly identical to John Lennon's
> > 'Imagine', though mine has the background tuba", despite current copyright
> > law not permitting this behavior.
> 
> If you could prove you created 'Imagine (This)' without any foreknowledge of 
> John Lennon's, then you would not be found to have violated contract. Since 

A minor nit, "copyright", not "contract".  A contract requires a "meeting
of the minds", and to be agreed to by both parties.  Since both parties
have never met in any manner, there is no contract.

> this is not criminal court, you don't have the "innocent until proven guilty" 
> rule, and the similarities would testify to the fact that you most likely 
> *had* knowledge of Lennon's song. From here, you would need to prove 
> otherwise. Once you've done that, your song is yours.

Thanks,
--
Hal