Defending the First Sale Doctrine 338
The Electronic Frontier Foundation recaps two court cases pending in the U.S. which will decide whether you're allowed to re-sell the things you purchase. The first case deals with items bought in other countries for resale in the U.S., such as textbooks. An unfavorable decision there would mean "anything that is made in a foreign country and contains copies of copyrighted material – from the textbooks at issue in the Kirtsaeng case to shampoo bottles with copyrighted labels – could be blocked from resale, lending, or gifting without the permission of the copyright owner. That would create a nightmare for consumers and businesses, upending used goods markets and undermining what it really means to 'buy' and 'own' physical goods. The ruling also creates a perverse incentive for U.S. businesses to move their manufacturing operations abroad. It is difficult for us to imagine this is the outcome Congress intended." The second case is about whether music purchased on services like iTunes can be resold to other people. "Not only does big content deny that first sale doctrine applies to digital goods, but they are also trying to undermine the first sale rights we do have by forcing users to license items they would rather buy. The copyright industry wants you to "license" all your music, your movies, your games — and lose your rights to sell them or modify them as you see fit."
Tags sum it up (Score:5, Funny)
There's a business plan! (Score:5, Funny)
1.) Spend a few hundred $ setting up a corporation. .mp3 under the auspices of said corporation. .mp3 for $3
2.) Buy an
3.) Sell the corporation and rights to the
4.) ???
5.) PROFIT!
Re:So copyright is not just who can copy? (Score:5, Funny)
" However, there is a place for big art too, and nobody is going to make The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars in their basement."
And for good reason--as a kid, I wasted an entire summer making The Lord of the Rings in my basement, only to realize that I couldn't fit it up the damned stairs. As a result of this, my first episode of Star Wars (Star Wars: Return of the King) will have a bit of a fantasy element to it.
Re:Get real! (Score:2, Funny)
But who did the politicians get their votes from?
Nobody forced the voters to vote the way they did.
Who did you vote for?
Cthulhu, of course.
Re:Digital (Score:3, Funny)
One of the most ironic parts of Atlas Shrugged is...
Any mention of "Atlas Shrugged" makes your post invalid.