Nathan, 22/02/2012 19:27:
In a moral sense, if we treat authors poorly because
they live in a country
where they are treated poorly, not only are we reinforcing that poor
treatment - we are benefiting from their disadvantage. If Iranian authors
were from any other of the vast majority of Berne signatory nations, they
would have full rights to control and benefit from their work
internationally. Should we benefit from their lack of freedom, over which
they have little influence? Or should we make the ethical decision to
afford them the same rights and interests that are afforded to virtually
everyone else in the world?
I can understand this reasoning from a "moral" perspective, but from a
practical point of view (or is it just economical?) I doubt this makes
much sense. As they already don't have any way to claim their rights
outside their country, by redistributing their works without
compensation we're not making them lose anything, unless we "compete"
also with distribution and ruin their market in their home country.
Moreover, given the embargo in Iran, does someone know if a publisher
would even be /allowed/ to give them a compensation?
And speaking of embargo, let me express some more concerns (might be
wild speculations): I consider it a very controversial political action,
I don't know if it's considered obvious and uncontroversial in the USA.
I think we shouldn't do anything to reinforce (nor evade) the embargo,
because it would be a political choice (or an illegal one, but that's
out of question) – we shouldn't discuss it on this list either, I hope
this is not going to open an off-topic flame –. If neither agreed nor
non-agreed publishing is possible, wouldn't "respecting" the country's
original copyright just be a way to worsen the situation of those
authors, from a practical point of view?
Also, I think this situation might have some precedent in some early
20th or 19th century copyright regulations clashes across European
countries, which made life very hard for some authors. (This is a very
vague thought: Emilio Salgari disappointed with English translations of
his works?)
Nemo