The Smithsonian (no relation) tells us that material copyrighted in 1923 (and earlier) is "FINALLY" in PUBLIC DOMAIN. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee. Freeeeeeeeeee
The writer of the copyrighted piece (Glenn Fleischmann, who presumably didn't do it free just for "the credit") is especially glad not to be restricted to quoting only four lines of a Robert Frost poem. As if teachers in poetry classes ever worried about copyright royalties while xeroxing a poem for their classroom. As if the Frost estate or his publisher would ever bother to take somebody to court and prove monetary damages for the quote. Basically in Frost's case, it was "if you want to anthologize it, clear it with us." That's all.
Christ knows, there's not enough FREE shit in the world already. Archive Dot ORG anyone? GUTENBERG, anyone? BLOGSPOT, everyone?
Happily, Fleischmann got somebody to agree with him that it's FINALLY about time. Further into the article: “There comes a point when a creative work belongs to history as much as to its author and her heirs,” said Mary Rasenberger, executive director of the Authors Guild.
Er, why, Mary? Because the author of a work published in 1923 is now dead and his grandson should make a living on his own? 95 years is the rule? Why not 75? Or 50? Or as soon as an author kicks the bucket? Hell, why should any heirs, be it sons of Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney or the daughters of Norman Mailer preserve the integrity of their parents' work and protect it from commercialism and abuse?
Anyone who DOESN'T create seems to have the gripe of "Aw, why can't we all SHARE it...COPY it..." and in the case of eBay bootleggers and bloggers who use Rapidgator and want Paypal donations..."MAKE MONEY OFF IT?" 1923 or 2018. SHARE IT! Down with Capitalism!
Oh, yes, Sweet Jesus, FINALLY! FINALLY everyone can quote that Robert Frost poem with IMPUNITY.
The irony is that ANYONE can do what I just did, and reprint a hunk of somebody else's copyrighted work and NOT have to worry about it. In this case, I can claim "fair use," right? I didn't copy the WHOLE article. You can't prove I damaged anything from the screen-cap above. Prove your damages. Show how you lost money because of what I just did.
See what I did?
Today, copyright (aka COPY WRONG) is almost meaningless.
Google (who gives me the free bandwidth on this BLOGSPOT they own) barely recognizes copyright infringement. Anyone who wants to file a complaint can't PHONE them or EMAIL them or expect a reply sent to their Calfornia office/compound/stalag. Google only allows a copyright owner to fill in forms on a website template. State everything about yourself, give away your privacy, accept that Google will actually POST your complaint for all to see, and then...be frustrated when they ignore the DMCA. If you follow up you might get a cryptic notation about insufficient information or incorrect input. Try again and again. And then give up.
The Smithsonian is cheering the fact that anyone can now print out and even try to make money selling:
OK, things published 95 years ago tend not to be "relevant" to today's millennials, or anyone else. Nobody can make money SELLING a download of "Yes We Have Bananas" recorded in 1923. But, oddly enough, foiling the joy of The Smithsonian and cheap Mr. Fleischmann, some things from that era ARE still of value, and protected. Charles Chaplin's famous short films circa 1915-1918 are only public domain in blurry condition. The digitized stuff from the vault was either copyright-renewed in the 50's, or considered a fresh new work in its improved condition. Tough luck, Glenn Fleischmann; FINALLY hasn't come to the Chaplin items still being sold on DVD.
The last book The Smithsonian mentioned now being in public domain: anybody HEARD of that book about BOOTLEGGERS? Anyone going to try and digitize it and make money selling it on eBay? Nope. There's TODAY'S BOOKS to bootleg instead. COPYRIGHT BE DAMNED.
For example, check the sale list below from a bootlegger in Sri Lanka. He's got over 20 titles that steal from 20 best selling authors. He's offering their entire output via eBay digital downloads. It happens to be technically illegal to sell digital downloads on eBay, and you can "REPORT THIS ITEM" over and over. But this seller isn't worried. Why?
If a concerned fan hits "REPORT THIS ITEM" and figures out the drop-down menu and sends it to "LISTINGS" and "DIGITAL DOWNLOADS" an employee-drone who may very well be minimum wage help in Sri Lanka (English a second language) won't stop it. Quoth eBay phone support (also somebody in Sri Lanka for whom English is a second language?) "Oh, sorry for this problem. But we have a million new auctions every day. We can't be expected to respond to all the complaints we get. Keep trying." If an author is actually offended at seeing the work being offered with a perjury statement of "I own re-sale rights" or "I am licensed" he can contact vero@ebay.com and ask that the item be removed. It will be. But the seller will stay on because eBay will insist "we have no idea the other authors haven't licensed this seller, and we are JUST A VENUE so we won't ask for proof." Lah-dee-dah.
Yes, Yes, YES INDEED, cheap Glenn Fleischmann, FINALLY the Internet is so corrupt and everyone is so used to bootleg thievery that you can get today's best sellers FREE in Forums and Torrents and Blogs. On high profile site EBAY you can BUY an entire set of books that would take you years to read...for hardly the price of a second-hand paperback. Just type in an author's name and EBOOK or KINDLE on eBAY and see what happens.
FINALLY...The Smithsonian might say, some SANITY in this awful-awful game of COPYRIGHT. It's called BOOTLEGGING.
No comments:
Post a Comment