On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 5:23 AM, Billy Crook billycrook@gmail.com wrote:
This is a really big deal. Right now, nearly everything is copyrighted. Every work, no matter how insignificant, is copyright it's author the moment it is created, unless its author is the government, and that lasts the lifetime of the author plus 70 years or up to 120 years from the date of authorship. If you don't make your work known for some long period of time, or don't make it clear what the terms are and make it obvious who the copyright holder is, you are creating a mess for others.
You're right Billy, but I think you have the wrong solution. Since we're talking about drastic solutions for common problems, let's just outlaw the creation of paintings, music, sculpture, pottery, etc. Clearly all of this "artistic" stuff is just clogging up the legal system and giving you a conniption fit (being sarcastic here).
I'm sorry Billy, but it's clear that either 1) you're totally unreasonably crazy or 2) you're talking about something completely different here, and failing to acknowledge that what we've brought up is a valid concern. I'm hoping it's the latter.
You're talking about art like it's a patent, which is a completely different thing. We're talking about the impact on people who make paintings and music, and you seem to be talking about someone who is designing a logo. I totally get that there can be, at times, a problem with someone who says "hey! I made a sign that looks like that McDonald's poster five years ago!".
But we're all talking about the impact of this bill on small artists. You completely disregard the valid concerns, and talk about those small artists as if they're either A) assholes looking to extort money from poor, hard working megacorporations or B) hippie beatniks that shouldn't care if their work is stolen and profited from. Sure, your concern is on _likenesses_, not actual pixel by pixel (or note for note) copies, but don't you see that it's a slippery slope?
I find it funny that you completely dismiss the opinions of Leo, whose wife apparently is an artist, and thus directly impacted. What do you do Billy? I'll freely admit that I'm not an artist - my concerns have more to do with the slippery slope and the possibility that this kind of legislation might work its way on over to software.
This bill strikes me to be a very large hammer to pound a very small nail.... Don't be surprised if a lot of thumbs get smashed by it (that's another analogy).
Jeffrey.