nathan@orstcs.UUCP (03/03/84)
I beg to differ. A songwriter profits either by performing his/her creation, or by receiving license fees from someone else performing the song. Profits from selling copies of lyrics are minor in comparison. If posting lyrics results in someone performing the work and paying the artist royalties, the artist has benefitted by the posting. Needless to say, proper credit(s) should be given. The Legally Ignorant Nathan C. Myers orstcs!nathan
bch@unc.UUCP (Byron Howes ) (03/15/84)
The following is personal correspondence posted, with permission, to the
net.
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Another net participant has committed the crime of illegal reproduction of
copyrighted material, in this case a set of lyrics to a satirical popular
song. By doing so, he made himself and his site liable to severe penalties,
both criminal and civil, and showed a complete lack of respect for the
owner of the copyright.
We have been over this many times before, but these thieves continue to
operate. They are seemingly unaware that copyrighted material is property,
and that the owner of the copyright makes his or her living from restricted
reproduction of the copyrighted material. Thus, the real irony of the
situation: although one would expect that the offending poster would have
respect for the person owning the work that the offender decided to "share"
(one assumes that the offender liked the work), he is stealing from the
owner. It is as if one liked a painting hanging in a museum so much that he
removed it without permission and showed it to all and sundry while praising
the museum.
It is perfectly legal to reproduce short extracts of a copyrighted work for
critical purposes, but reproduction in whole is strictly and explicitly
forbidden. Otherwise, there would be no way for the artist to make money,
and there would thus be less motive for people to go to the trouble of
making their art available at all. The crime of theft is as serious in this
context as any other, even though you may not have to pick locks, mask your
face, or conceal merchandise.
I suggest that this warning be placed in the USENET etiquette article.
Tim Maroney, The Censored Hacker
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As one who is in the business of writing potentially saleable software
I concur completely with Tim and perhaps feel more strongly about it
than he. I dare say that if I found software I had written for profit
being distributed for free to the world at large, I would have the
offending parties in court in a heartbeat.
--
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
Byron Howes
UNC - Chapel Hill
({decvax,akgua}!mcnc!unc!bch)