Attention Publishers: Copyright Law Isn't Something Flexible Where You Get To Set The Rules
from the this-again? dept
There's just something about the nature of intellectual property law that seems to make people believe it gives them a lot more power (and flexibility to define their power) than it really does. We see this quite often with bogus trademark claims, but it's often seen with copyrights as well. Last month, we pointed to the case where a website's copyright notice pretended it had the right to prevent fair use just by saying it was so. Now, Michael Geist has noticed that a travel guide he recently purchased has a copyright notice inside that again makes claims about what the owner can do with the book that seem to fall well outside the official limits of copyright -- including things like banning fair use photocopying. It's not even a case where the book publisher is asserting that the book has a separate license. Instead, it claims that these things are forbidden under Canadian (in this case) copyright law -- which they're not. For very good reasons, this upsets Geist, who worries about people and companies who seem to believe they can simply claim what copyright law means when it's much more limited. Of course, in this age when the legal profession and the media keeps talking up the wonders of ever more aggressive intellectual property protection, is it any wonder that this is what we end up with?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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You may not read this post
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Re: You may not read this post
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Just Shoot The Greedy... :-)
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Re: Just Shoot The Greedy... :-)
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Re: Just Shoot The Greedy... :-)
people, we need to take our world back from the greedy heartless bastards who think they've bought it lock, stock and barrel...
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Its the EULA Stupid
Congress should be forced to change it's decision before the effects spread far and wide and destroy all of civilization, which it is in the process of doing now.
Good luck.
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Re: Its the EULA Stupid
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Re: Re: Its the EULA Stupid
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good question
Where are we going to end up? Will we have to live with our eyes covered at all times? Once you “see” someone’s IP, they are automatically granted a percentage of your income, and your estate, for the privilege of having “enjoyed” the benefit of their IP…
We not greed knows no bounds but does our legal system?
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$5 license
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$5 license
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EULA = End User License Agreeement
A truly egregious concept;
Great for businness;
before entering this restaurant you agree to like the food and service and pay promptly.
A software EULA typically forces you to agree to like the software and prohibits you from making negative comments in the public forum about the software even if the comments are true.
I'd like to say I did not like the tofu burger but then I would be sued by "Tofu Burger & Grazing".
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Thank you.
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