Subject:
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Re: LEGO Company Welcomes Adult LEGO Enthusiasts
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 7 Dec 2000 17:28:52 GMT
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Viewed:
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8919 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, James Powell writes:
> OK, so _everything_ has no copywrite? Is this what you are trying to tell me?
> That, because I only took something physical, and put it into a new
> arrangement, like these Electrons in the computer, that I don't hold any >rights to exploit my work? Tell that to Microsoft, or to a iron foundry, or >to a farmer...or anyone else. I cannot patent the idea (at least not in the >sense of a patent on the bricks...not sure how it is differenciated >worldwide), but I can (and have) copywrite on the images, and the >ideas/arrangements contained within the images.
In a way, there are no copyrights -- not actually. Rights are sustained by
belligerent contest in court, and less formally by social custom -- but the
idea that others will ACTUALLY not copy your work is illusory. Trust me,
it's true.
And I wouldn't tell it to MS because they can win a legal battle with me --
it has nothing to do with the right or wrong of it; it has to do with the
fact that they can sustain the legal battle longer than can I, and therefore
I would be forced to an early capitulation.
But the question is: can you legally steal anything you want to? The answer
is yes, especially if you have money to back up your thievery! Don't
believe me? Why don't you check out the intellectual property rights
concerning ideas like a GUI and how it stands between Apple and MS. Settled
out of court last time I checked -- although if right had been done, it
would have put MS out of business. So why didn't it? Might makes right, of
course!
And if you don't like that proof -- go research the subject of fonts in
terms of copyright and patent (as I have mentioned elsewhere in this
thread). But don't blame me, I am just the messenger.
The real madness of your position asserts itself in cases where certain
corporations are claiming the rights to seemingly generic ideas -- like an
online auction, or an online bookstore, etc. Where does one draw the line
between intellectual property and something so generic as to belong to a
business culture as a whole? My argument is often that things are NOT
created by individuals as much as we would like to think -- that there comes
key moments in time when there is a "buzz" in the air that creates movements
- be they artistic, poliitical, socio-econmic, model, or even toy model
movements (lego Lamppost, doh!). Just be sure that your ability to litigate
a position and even to win based on that position, doesn't make it "right."
Our legal system is based on the fiction of "doing right" and "establishing
justice" -- but these are ideas only, the means to sell you on the idea of
it (the marketing aspect, if you will), and nothing to do with the
actuality/reality of it at all! There is no right, there is no justice.
And BTW, the images of a Lego brick construct may or may not be
copyrightable, the Lego logo appears on every brick!!! You can claim the
right to the item, but it might just be nonsense. Your use of their bricks
as a subset of your product might be actionable without a specific license
to do it
-- Richard
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