From owner-freebsd-chat Sat May 20 22:53:19 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mail.ptd.net (mail1.ha-net.ptd.net [207.44.96.65]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 44E3137B7DD for ; Sat, 20 May 2000 22:53:17 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from tms2@mail.ptd.net) Received: (qmail 19530 invoked from network); 21 May 2000 05:53:19 -0000 Received: from du23.cli.ptd.net (HELO mail.ptd.net) (204.186.33.23) by mail.ptd.net with SMTP; 21 May 2000 05:53:19 -0000 Message-ID: <392779A9.87E47388@mail.ptd.net> Date: Sun, 21 May 2000 01:52:41 -0400 From: "Thomas M. Sommers" Organization: No X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.51 [en] (X11; I; FreeBSD 3.2-RELEASE i386) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Why are people against GNU? WAS Re: 5.0 already? References: <003b01bfbcdc$6059fb40$a164aad0@kickme> <391D71FE.1570F551@asme.org> <20000513205610.A22103@physics.iisc.ernet.in> <3.0.6.32.20000513143506.00895650@mail85.pair.com> <20000514010614.A16058@happy.checkpoint.com> <3.0.6.32.20000513180213.00894400@mail85.pair.com> <20000514023000.A16663@happy.checkpoint.com> <3.0.6.32.20000513192827.00895a10@mail85.pair.com> <20000514040731.B17455@happy.checkpoint.com> <391E27DD.320D4BBF@mail.ptd.net> <20000514024308.A57423@sasami.jurai.net> <4.3.1.2.20000519144129.04244e60@localhost> <4.3.1.2.20000520081306.046e03d0@localhost> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Brett Glass wrote: > > At 11:43 PM 5/19/2000, Thomas M. Sommers wrote: > > > > Ah, but performers routinely prohibit recording or videotaping of > > > plays and concerts, claiming a copyright on those "events." > > > >Are they claiming copyright to the event, or that when you use your > >ticket you incurred a contractual obligation not to record the event? > > Both, actually. You will find notices on the tickets AND copyright > notices in TV and radio broadcasts. Exactly. The event being broadcast and the broadcast itself are distinct, and different methods are needed to protect each. To be copyrightable, a work must be "fixed in any tangible medium of expression." 17 U.S.C. 102(a). A chess game is so fixed. An account or recording of a game is. With respect to plays and conerts, another consideration is that the work being performed may be copyrighted. > > > Likewise, the NFL and NBA claim copyrights baseball and football > > > games, and have claimed that people who compile statistics and scores > > > by watching licensed broadcasts are creating derivative works. > > > >The broadcast, of course, is copyrightable, and anything based on it > >would be a derivative work. If you attend the game in person, see > >previous comment. > > Ah, but statistics are factual information, not an act of authorship. > They're thus not subject to copyright by virtue of the US Constitution. I think it's a statutory, not constitutional, question. One could argue that a batting average could be copyrighted because it takes some work to calculate, beyond merely observing a game. > The "Collections of Information Anti-Piracy Act" attempts an end run > around this provision, and proponents claim it'll hold up on account > of the "commerce clause." I'm dubious, and the Supreme Court is too; > it has been stingy vis-a-vis this clause lately. But there's still a > chance that big money could win the day. In my opinion, they have not been stingy enough. But that is another matter. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message