Re: Fear of Life (was Microsoft, Automation)

ChuckKuecker (ckuecker@mcs.net)
Wed, 6 May 1998 08:33:39 -0500 (CDT)


At 21:42 5/5/98 -0700, you wrote:
>That's two different and unrelated questions. Sure, you have a right
>to profit from your work just as Mark McGuire has a right to profit
>from hitting home runs. But does that mean he should be able to
>profit from runs he hit 5 years ago, or prevent other batters from
>studying his swing? If you made such a bad deal with your publisher
>that someone copying your work can cut into your profits, whose
>fault is that? I say it's yours; the costs of exclusion are borne
>by every other business, why should /I/ bear the costs of exclusion
>for /yours/?
>

Different propositon here. If I build a house, I can sell it once. If I hit
a baseball, I can only make each hit once.

If I develop a unique product, I can sell it many times.

>> If I create a logo for my enterprise, should someone else be
>> permitted to use it to sell their products?
>
>That's a trademark, not a copyright or patent; an entirely unrelated
>issue. Using someone else's identity is willful fraud, and I have
>no problem with enforcing a tort in that case.
>

Okay, definition accepted. But use of a copied product as your own is also
fraud for the exact same reason.

>> I have no objection to others using my ideas to act as a springboard for
>> them to reach even greater heights. I only object to others using my
>> creations to deny me a chance to make a living by undercutting me with
>> duplicates of what I made.
>
>Then don't use business practices that encourage that. The present
>system is based on the assumption of copyright; without it, different
>business models would evolve. This is a good thing.
>

In today's world, I have no choice but to play by the rules of today's game.
Should your utopia become a reality, i will gladly adapt my views to
maximize my comfort level there.

>> Copying, however, is cheating. By your arguments, if I copy your doctoral
>> thesis, I should be able to claim the degree just as if I had done all the
>> research. After all, it's not 'theft'.
>
>Well, you could publish my thesis, but I presume that a college who
>granted degrees to people for using a Xerox machine would not have
>a very good reputation.
>

Yes, but how do you prevent people from claiming to be the original author
without some law or rule acknowleging the original maker?

Chuck Kuecker