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Date:      Sun, 21 May 2000 01:52:41 -0400
From:      "Thomas M. Sommers" <tms2@mail.ptd.net>
To:        chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Why are people against GNU? WAS Re: 5.0 already?
Message-ID:  <392779A9.87E47388@mail.ptd.net>
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>

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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.


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