1. Even if we were to accept the version of events that Izhmash would be a lot richer due to copyright, that does not mean that the "additional" money wouldn't have been stolen as well. I mean "HELLO!" - this is Russia/Soviet Union we are talking about.
2. AK-47 and it's revamped version of AK-74 are just some of the products. There are newer versions of AK being produced plus the whole myriad of other weapons (rifles, bombs, etc...) being manufactured there. Izhmash produces weapons for both military and civilian applications.
3. Weapons are just a part of what Izhmash makes. Other divisions produce motocycles, cars, industrial machinery, etc...
Conclusion: how possibly could this have been avoided by copyrighting one specific product?
FUN FACT:
Even if there was copyright in place, it would have belonged to the state not to the factory that produced the product, i.e., Izhmash would not have seen a single penny of that money.
I know it's been said and said and repeated again by authors and commenters on this blog all of who are smarter than me but since I am feeling particularly self-centred this afternoon I will repeat it. People will pay for a good product. Few years back I bought a book by Christopher Moore called "A Dirty Job". Having never heard of the author before I was totally a random gamble - I just really dug the cover. It turned out to be one of the best works of fiction I have ever read. I loaned my copy of the book (for free) to most of my friends all of whom liked it so much that they ended up buying copies of the book for themselves. Even though they had read it already. For free. People will pay for the product if they feel a connection to it, if it means something to them.
Let's ignore for the moment the fact that Mr. Helprin's parents' generation thought that their children would go to hell for listening to rock'n'roll. It isn't as if that generational clash has produced any sort of social unrest or anything. Oh, wait...
It's very nice and tolerant of Michael Masnick to qualify Mark Helprin's comments as simply a "bit of luddism". I would say that his words are no less ignorant and intolerant and insulting and baseless than the worst of the McCarthyisms. "Slurpee-sucking geeks who seldom see daylight"? Assuming, of course, that the alleged problem is not really related to the popular chilled dessert, I dare Mr. Helprin to look at the pre-corporate fame pictures of the founders of Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo, and coutless others.
Or would Mark Helprin insist that it the fault of the above-mentioned people that the modern youth is as allegedly defficient as he paints it? Perhaps he would like to live in a society where the use of technology and the cultural content of the media is controlled by the people of "high moral statute"? Iran might be a nice destination. I hear they have a lively climate. I would, however, suggest that he stay away from South-East/South-Central regions - his former colleagues from the Israeli Air Force might have their own plans for places like Arak, and Bushehr, and Natanz...
On the post: Photographers Can Do CwF+RtB Experiments, Too
"he'd even be able to crowdfund a new book"
On the post: Shooting Down The Claim That The AK-47 Needed Intellectual Property Protection
Say what?
2. AK-47 and it's revamped version of AK-74 are just some of the products. There are newer versions of AK being produced plus the whole myriad of other weapons (rifles, bombs, etc...) being manufactured there. Izhmash produces weapons for both military and civilian applications.
3. Weapons are just a part of what Izhmash makes. Other divisions produce motocycles, cars, industrial machinery, etc...
Conclusion: how possibly could this have been avoided by copyrighting one specific product?
FUN FACT:
Even if there was copyright in place, it would have belonged to the state not to the factory that produced the product, i.e., Izhmash would not have seen a single penny of that money.
On the post: New Zealand Author Claims Libraries Are Involved In Grand Theft By Loaning Books
People will pay for good product
On the post: Mark Helprin: All The Reviews Of My Book Sucked Because Publishers Assigned The People I Insult To Review It
Did Mark Helprin suffer a brain injury?
It's very nice and tolerant of Michael Masnick to qualify Mark Helprin's comments as simply a "bit of luddism". I would say that his words are no less ignorant and intolerant and insulting and baseless than the worst of the McCarthyisms. "Slurpee-sucking geeks who seldom see daylight"? Assuming, of course, that the alleged problem is not really related to the popular chilled dessert, I dare Mr. Helprin to look at the pre-corporate fame pictures of the founders of Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo, and coutless others.
Or would Mark Helprin insist that it the fault of the above-mentioned people that the modern youth is as allegedly defficient as he paints it? Perhaps he would like to live in a society where the use of technology and the cultural content of the media is controlled by the people of "high moral statute"? Iran might be a nice destination. I hear they have a lively climate. I would, however, suggest that he stay away from South-East/South-Central regions - his former colleagues from the Israeli Air Force might have their own plans for places like Arak, and Bushehr, and Natanz...
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