[Foundation-l] Stroop report

geni geniice at gmail.com
Mon Mar 24 17:50:35 UTC 2008


On 24/03/2008, Yann Forget <yann at forget-me.net> wrote:
> I think that this argument can be easily reversed.
>  Copyright without a copyright holder is just nonsense, because only the
>  copyright holder can claim it. Nobody, not even the "State" or any
>  public body, can do it on the holder's behalf. So I think that we should
>  apply common sense, and allow images of which the copyright holder has
>  disappeared in the mists of time.

Are you prepared to agree to cover any costs that result from such a policy?

While you and I might be unable to trace a given copyright holder that
does not mean that such a person does not exist and decide to start
exercising their rights.

A few years back you might have thought it fairly safe to conclude
that Alberto Korda wasn't going to enforce his copyrights. As Smirnoff
discovered you would have been wrong.

Worse still IP can be inherited. The nice old Mrs Smith may not chose
to enforce their copyrights be the son who works in the city and sees
another opportunity for profit? Or Getty buy up yet another defunct
photo agency and guess what they find in the collection that you
thought no one would ever enforce copyright on?

After decades of mergers sales and bankruptcies you might think that
certain copyright have become orphaned. United Amalgamated
Consolidated Holdings are likely to think otherwise.

Gets better than that. You claim the state can't get involved? Well
firstly that isn't universally true and even where it is what of the
case where a person dies without a will or any heirs at all?


Then there is the problem of defining orphaned works. Fact is legally
it is extremely hard for a work to become orphaned. How exhaustive
does the search have to be before you consider a work to be orphaned?

Oh and if you think you can answer the above questions remember since
we are talking foundation policy you realistically need to be able to
answer them under US law, non US English common law based systems and
Napoleonic code based systems.

Wikipedia copyright policy is generally crafted to keep grey areas to
an absolute minimum. Advocating a course of action that would increase
the number of grey areas is not a good idea.


-- 
geni



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