Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 18:01:13 -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: <39270B29.D09AA59D@mail.ptd.net> References: <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> <392475F3.513EE781@mail.ptd.net> <20000520185544.A47143@happy.checkpoint.com>
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Anatoly Vorobey wrote: > > On Thu, May 18, 2000 at 07:00:03PM -0400, Thomas M. Sommers wrote: > > > Sorry, no citation. I am less willing to stake my life on the crosswords > > > issue than on the chess games issue, though, where the fact that individual > > > games can't be copyrighted is used every day by thousands of papers all > > > over the world in their news section, and is well-known inside the > > > community of chess fans and writers, etc. > > > > 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*. > Indeed: > > - both a symphony and a chess game is a sequence of moves coming from a > limited repertoire; > - either is potentially infinite, but in reality finite; > - either is capable of giving intense joy to great many people; > - a good specimen of either kind takes wit, skill and hard work to > create; > - and so on. > > Obviously I'm simplifying, but the difference is one of degree. That > there is immense creativity in chess, just as in music, is obvious to > any knowledgable player. All this may be true, but it is irrelevant. What matters, *all* that matters, is the wording of the statute. A symphony is copyrightable because it falls in one of the categories of works that the statute says are copyrightable. A game of chess is not, because it isn't. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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