Date: Sun, 21 May 2000 16:09:01 +0000 From: Anatoly Vorobey <mellon@pobox.com> To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why are people against GNU? WAS Re: 5.0 already? Message-ID: <20000521160901.A215@happy.checkpoint.com> In-Reply-To: <39270B29.D09AA59D@mail.ptd.net>; from tms2@mail.ptd.net on Sat, May 20, 2000 at 06:01:13PM -0400 References: <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> <392475F3.513EE781@mail.ptd.net> <20000520185544.A47143@happy.checkpoint.com> <39270B29.D09AA59D@mail.ptd.net>
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On Sat, May 20, 2000 at 06:01:13PM -0400, Thomas M. Sommers wrote: > > > A chess game is an event, not a literary or artistic work of any sort. > > > > Sorry, but millions of chess fans who enjoy studying famous and brilliant > > games and compositions won't agree. Your claim is as sensible as claiming > > that a symphony can't be copyrighted. > > Not at all. Copyright of music is specifically provided for by the > statute. A chess game, however, is not a literary or artistic work of > any sort, *as defined by the statute*. This is correct. Perhaps you're missing the context. I originally brought in the example of chess games, in order to show that the concept of copyright as a *natural* property right (which the statute merely codifies) is indefensible. The point being, as far as their "natural" properties are concerned, the difference between a chess game and a music composition is perhaps of a degree but not of a kind. The statute clearly gives preferential treatment to kinds of intellectual activity the society feels to be especially worth encouraging. Thus I'm not rallying for copyright on chess games, but am using the example of chess ironically to attack the naive and dangerous idea of copyright that has becomes especially widespread recently. -- Anatoly Vorobey, mellon@pobox.com http://pobox.com/~mellon/ "Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly" - G.K.Chesterton To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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