On Wednesday 18 July 2007, Jay Blanchard wrote: > [snip] > ...all manner of interesting debate... > [/snip] > > What, exactly, is the difference between this particular brand of > copyright infringement and taking the book from a bookstore without > paying for it? Am I committing copyright infringement by standing in the > store and reading the book? If you go into a bookstore and take a book out without the permission of the store owner, that is stealing/theft and the victim is the store. (That permission is implicit in paying for it, since that involves a transfer of ownership, but it's the lack of permission that makes it illegal rather than the lack of money transfer.) If you then xerox that book and sell copies of that xerox to people on the street, that's copyright infringement and the victim is the copyright holder (note I said holder, not owner). If you go into a bookstore, pick up a book, and start reading it while standing next to the shelf, that may or may not be against store policy. Some stores actually have cafes where they encourage you to do exactly that, but others would ask you to leave. The first two are both illegal, and covered by two entirely different branches of law with two entirely different sets of reasoning behind them. The third is not illegal but a matter of policy on private property. And a side note, while this thread may not have anything to do with PHP code it is vitally important that those involved in the creation and business of information and expression understand copyright law. You don't need to be a professional lawyer, but the amount of misinformation out there about copyright, on all sides of the debate, is simply mind-boggling. That hurts everyone, because the law is not always doing what is "right" (by some definition of right). You can't know that, though, or make an informed decision about how you wan to license your work, unless you understand what the law actually is and why it is the way it is. So as PHP professionals, copyright law is on-topic, even if not code-related. -- Larry Garfield AIM: LOLG42 larry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ICQ: 6817012 "If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it." -- Thomas Jefferson -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
