Aleks A.-Lessmann wrote:
> On 31 Jan 2007 02:00:03 -0800, Jan wrote:
[snip]

> Erm, right, backlash. Have to remember that one. And the legal
> ramifications I saw where of the intellectual property rights kind.
> 
> When I hear the lobbyists mooing about how not watching the commercials
> is robbing and such stuff... I'm under the impression the IP lobbyists
> want to control ANY use anybody makes of copyrighted material, while
> they are trying to stretch copyrights 'til Doomsday...
> 

This is an argument about price goring.
Hollywood can run profitably if the copyright on movies was reduced
to one week - just look at the theatre sales/viewing figures.  DVDs
can be made and sold for $2, that is how the pirates make money.

Since residues stop after 10 years, just ask the Babylon 5 actors,
any copyright after that is pure charity to the executives.  Which
is why they can afford to stay in 5 star hotels.

At the heart of copyright (or more truthfully copy privilege) law
is a deal based on fairness - payment to the artist for work done.
Things like regional coding of DVDs and Digital Rights Management
(DRM) are basically cheats, non artists attempting to get both extra
money and power to boss the voters around.  When caught cheats get
punished.

Note to copyright lawyers, the section in the US Constitution covering
copyright is of only minor importance to Hollywood, half of sales
are out side of the USA so the clause only applies half the time.
An important part of your job is warning the executives about this
limitation.

Andrew Swallow
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