Copyright Is An Incentive... To Create Lawsuits

from the 'nuff-said dept

Fri, Feb 25th 2011 6:33pm — Nina Paley

I can't really add to this.

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Filed Under: copyright, incentives

55 Comments

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DH's Love Child (profile), 25 Feb 2011 @ 6:38pm

So true
And yet, the usual trolls will try to claim that's only in response to the freetards.
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Bas Grasmayer (profile), 25 Feb 2011 @ 6:54pm

Nice one, Nina!
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Anonymous Poster, 25 Feb 2011 @ 7:00pm

Absolutely perfect.
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 25 Feb 2011 @ 7:06pm

Re: So true
Won't somebody think of the lawyers?
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Anonymous Poster, 25 Feb 2011 @ 7:11pm

Re: Re: So true
...well, I would, but the thoughts wouldn't be very nice.

Or non-exculpatory.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2011 @ 7:34pm

Nina, without violations, there would be no lawsuits.

Cause and effect. Perhaps something you should focus on?
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2011 @ 7:45pm

That one is a LuLz winner.
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charliebrown (profile), 25 Feb 2011 @ 7:49pm

From the 'nuff said dpt (external division)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA*breath*HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA*breath*HAHAHAHAHAHAHA*breath*HAHAHAHAHA *breath*HAHAHA*breath*HAHAHA*breath*HAHA*breath*HAHAHA*breathes*HAHA-oh-oh dear.... HAHAHAHAHA!
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cc (profile), 25 Feb 2011 @ 7:52pm

Spot on.

Has anyone else noticed that the most aggressive critics here on TechDirt are not in fact artists, but IP lawyers...

The artists we get, some of whom are actually regulars like Nina and Karl, are a lot less dogmatic about IP enforcement.

I find that rather telling about who is more concerned about their future employment when IP policy is fixed.
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IronM@sk, 25 Feb 2011 @ 8:07pm

Re:
LOL!
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2011 @ 8:31pm

Re:
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/25/tolkien-estate-censo.html

Tolkien estate censors badge that contains the word "Tolkien"

Until today, when Zazzle emailed me to say they were pulling the buttons for intellectual property right infringement.

And guess who complained about their rights being infringed?

Without any proper IP reform, expect the "violations" to keep getting more and more ridiculous.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2011 @ 8:55pm

Re:
Right. It's the defendants and their misdeeds that bring about lawsuits, not the plaintiffs.

In a way that I'm sure she didn't intend, Nina is right. Copyright incentivizes the creation of works that are so good, other people will "steal" them. This "theft" creates lawsuits.

Therefore, copyright is an incentive to create lawsuits--lawsuits that the defendants bring on themselves.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2011 @ 8:57pm

Re:
LOL! Very true, but they're the biggest critics because they're the ones trained to see through the FUD. :)
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cc (profile), 25 Feb 2011 @ 9:11pm

Re: Re:
"Copyright incentivizes the creation of works that are so good"

Is there evidence of that, or is that what they told you at IP jihad training?

Plus, copyright is just a law. You could make a law that makes breathing illegal and sue everyone for "stealing" air. That would be one hell of an incentive for lawsuits -- it would surely keep the hot-air lawyers busy and their wallets heavy.
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cc (profile), 25 Feb 2011 @ 9:18pm

Re: Re:
So, you consider the artists themselves too pathetic, stupid and incompetent that they can't respond for themselves.

Moreover, you seem more keen to discuss matters of economic policy (such as the motives behind copyrights and patents) rather than technicalities about the current state of the law that your training covered.
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xenomancer (profile), 25 Feb 2011 @ 9:58pm

Re: Re: So true
The lawyers already own the rights to those thoughts. My incentive to independently create those thoughts is being hindered by their haughty sense of entitlement!
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Zacqary Adam Green (profile), 25 Feb 2011 @ 10:54pm

But copyright gave you the incentive to create that comic, right? RIGHT?
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2011 @ 11:00pm

Re: Re:
To the extent that copy'right' works are better than other works, it's only because the funding to create such works (wrongfully) heavily benefits from government imposed monopoly access to public airwaves and cableco infrastructure (and a better ability to advertise through these channels). Others have to go through a govt imposed gateway keeper to get their works advertised and played on cableco infrastructure and broadcasting spectra and those who control the use of these communication platforms are more prone to play (and advertise) works that are controlled or 'owned' by a select few. Hence the works of these select few naturally get a wider audience and this wider audience leads to better funding of better content.

but, as we can see, freely available content is being produced every day on the Internet, and the quality of much of this content improves every day, as others are getting a better opportunity to get their works known and to utilize such publicity to acquire more funding.
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Christopher (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 1:33am

Re: Re: Re: So true
Why wouldn't your thoughts be very nice? The fact is that EVERYONE bashes on lawyers until they need one..... frankly, if I was a lawyer and not just a paralegal, having someone come to me who had an avowed attitude like yours? Even if they were Ghandi, I would tell them "Sorry, find someone else to take your case!"
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2011 @ 2:15am

Re:
Nina, without violations, there would be no lawsuits.
Cause and effect. Perhaps something you should focus on?

So, you're saying that every copyright lawsuit has merit? That sounds exactly like the kind of lie copyright supporters like to tell.

Abolish copyright.
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Tfp, 26 Feb 2011 @ 3:54am

Copyright is
Copyright is theft
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Richard (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 4:09am

Re: Re: Re: Re: So true
Of course there are good and bad in every profession. There are many great lawyers out there - eg Clive Stafford-Smith, Lawrence Lessig etc etc. Here we tend to use "Lawyers" as a shorthand for a certain type of lawyer.
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Richard (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 4:10am

Re:
without violations, there would be no lawsuits

You don't seriously believe that do you?
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Richard (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 4:13am

Re: Re:
they're the biggest critics because they're the ones trained to see through the FUD. :)
Actually they're trained to create FUD.
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The eejit (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 4:52am

Re: Copyright is
You stole my phrase! THIEF! Now pay me 100,00 dollars or I'll sue!
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Nina Paley (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 6:01am

Re:
http://copyheart.org/
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2011 @ 6:12am

Re: Re: Re:
Trained to create and to dissect FUD. I'd agree with that.
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someone (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 6:21am

Re: Re: Re: Re: So true
Even if they were Ghandi, I would tell them "Sorry, find someone else to take your case!"

Someone realizes they need help from a professional the professionals response is to not help them.
Yet another reason to dislike lawyers and/or wanabe lawyers.
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cc (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 6:34am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Since all you do is create FUD, you must not be a very good lawyer.
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Loonesta, 26 Feb 2011 @ 6:37am

Sour Grapes
IF you have never created anything of value, yes, it is an invitation to litigation.
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RagingBid (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 8:23am

U.S. Copyright Office web quote
Here is a quote directly from the us copyright office website:

"The Office's mission is: To promote creativity by administering and sustaining an effective national copyright system."

What I have always found interesting is the people who look of un copyrighted works and register copyrights for which they never created!
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Richard (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 8:40am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Trained to create and to dissect FUD.
and also to pretend that it exists when it doesn't.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2011 @ 9:41am

Re: Re:
"Copyright incentivizes the creation of works that are so good, other people will "steal" them."

I have a few copyrighted works and I can assure you that they are complete crap. I can also assure you that copyright was no incentive at all to create them - the only incentive emerging from those copyrights is that I could sue someone for infringing upon them. In other words: I know I couldn't sell them, since they're crap, but woe betide the fool who uses them to make something new, different, and better. Ka-ching for me and my lawyer.

Copyright is automatically created when a work is fixed in a tangible form. Quality of that work does not enter into the equation in any way, shape or fixed and tangible form.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2011 @ 9:44am

FTFY
Copyright provided the *inspiration* to create that comic.
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BlackDrak, 26 Feb 2011 @ 10:32am

So....
Mind if I submit this creative work to other news orgs? ROFL!
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MrWilson, 26 Feb 2011 @ 10:56am

Re:
Without copyright laws, there would be no violations.
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MrWilson, 26 Feb 2011 @ 10:58am

Re: Copyright is
I prefer, "Copyright is a violation."
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MrWilson, 26 Feb 2011 @ 11:00am

Re: So....
No, Nina doesn't mind at all.

You should read the notice in lieu of a copyright notice on her site:

♡ 2011 Mimi and Eunice. Copying is an act of love. Please copy and share.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2011 @ 11:31am

Re: Re: Re: Re: So true
We shall see. If I ever need a lawyer, i still fully expect to bash on them. Not bashing on the lawyer to his face is just a common sense and common courtesy, not a betrayal of one's own original principals. Nothing wrong with turning the tables on your enemy by becoming him as long as you revert to normal afterwards.
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Chris, 26 Feb 2011 @ 3:07pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: So true
And that is the problem with all this... Some lawyers would even turn down Ghandi if it meant they wouldn't be able to squeeze as much money as they could by taking cases that had less moral footing and higher profit margins. Some people need to start feeding the NEEDS of their soul over the DESIRES of their greedy bank accounts.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2011 @ 4:00pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: So true
"The fact is that EVERYONE bashes on lawyers until they need one"

and we wouldn't need a lawyer if it weren't for the other lawyers suing us for frivolous reasons.
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Richard (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 4:23pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: So true
Even if they were Ghandi, I would tell them "Sorry, find someone else to take your case!"

In case you didn't know - Gandi was a lawyer himself...
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Shadojak (profile), 26 Feb 2011 @ 4:26pm

Hmmm, apparently
all the AC commenters on TD are IP Lawyers.

Ones worried that one day, they will have to look for work, lol.

My heart bleeds for them!

/sarc/
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2011 @ 7:37pm

Apparently, copyright was incentive to create this cartoon.

Nina, you fail on so many levels.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2011 @ 11:53pm

Re:
Her love of you calling her a failure was the incentive silly! So uncreative.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Feb 2011 @ 6:16am

Re: Re: Re: Re: So true
The fact is that EVERYONE bashes on lawyers until they need one.....

And the more lawyers you have, the more you need.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Feb 2011 @ 6:21am

Re:
Apparently, copyright was incentive to create this cartoon.
Nina, you fail on so many levels.

Funny, I thought it was opposition to copyright.

Lying. Typical copyright supporter.
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Any Mouse (profile), 27 Feb 2011 @ 8:21am

Re:
How do you come to that conclusion? Please, explain it to us since you're so far inside her head.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Feb 2011 @ 8:15pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: So true
Look dude, this lawyer bashing thing didn't started today, medieval kings(mostly the French and English for some reason) where berating that profession long before you were born.

Besides what people see is not pretty. I saw a criminal lawyer once get a call from one of his clients telling him to go to a supermarket and wait 2 blocks away because they were going to rob the place and if they got caught they wanted him to be there, f'ing unbelievable, and he did, why?

Because he needed the money, he had 2 children and a wife that needed things and he did all of that for them, he was a loving father and husband a good guy in his neighborhood and never sued no one, contrary to some other lawyers I knew that sued everyone that annoyed them just because they could, so even though one was doing some disgusting things to survive other were doing it just because they could, but you wouldn't know that from the outside.

Lawyer bashing is a occupational hazard, get over it.

Quotes:

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."
William Shakespeare, King Henry VI Quote (Act IV, Scene II)

"A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats."
Benjamin Franklin

"Lawyers are men who hire out their words and anger."
Horace

"If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?"
Thomas Jefferson

�Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.�
Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes

�Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.�
Charles Lamb

"It is a maxim among these lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind."
Jonathan Swift
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Hiiragi Kagami (profile), 28 Feb 2011 @ 3:25am

:)
Usually, I've an issue with Nina's comics but this one stands to be her best. It's on point and 100% accurate.

Now, let's share these with politicians anxious to sign in COICA with links of the "effectiveness" of the DMCA.
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Not an electronic Rodent, 28 Feb 2011 @ 3:30am

Re: Re:
Can't.... click... funny... enough.. for.. laughing..... lawyers.... objective.... perceptive.... trained... hah hahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahah (thud)
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Not an electronic Rodent, 28 Feb 2011 @ 3:34am

Re: Re: Re: Re: So true
The fact is that EVERYONE bashes on lawyers until they need one.....
Every time I've needed one it's made me want to bash on them more. A lawyer in my experience has never ever made things better even when the outcome was "good" for me.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2011 @ 6:35am

Nina defintely hit a nerve with this one! Someone can't take a joke lol. Probably too close to the truth then, eh? Though so.
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Chris Rhodes (profile), 28 Feb 2011 @ 7:20am

Re: Re: Re:
IP jihad training

Perfect! I had a good laugh at that one.
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Not an electronic Rodent, 28 Feb 2011 @ 8:19am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
IP jihad training

Perfect! I had a good laugh at that one.
It did conjure an image of a guy in an expensive though slighly oversized and bulging suit shouting "COCIAu Akbar" before exploding into a huge cloud of takedown notices and subpoenas in the middle of a large Sony shop.....

Um... just me then? Ah, well....
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