Revisiting The Purpose of The Copyright Monopoly: Science and The Useful Arts - TorrentFreak PDF

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Revisiting The Purpose Of The Copyright Monopoly: Science And The Useful Arts
Rick Falkvinge December 2, 2012 17 copyright Print
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copyright monopoly laws are as clear on its purpose as the one in the United States of America. In its Constitution, we read the following: [Congress has the power] to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. This passage is notable for a number of different things. We begin by noting it says that Congress has the power, and not the obligation, to create this monopoly. Thus, the US Congress could abolish the monopoly tomorrow if there was political will. Those who claim that the copyright monopoly is constitutionally guaranteed are simply wrong. One hundred percent, 180 degrees wrong. Second, we should make careful note of its language. This passage enables the US Congress to make two kinds of monopolies: copyright monopolies and patent monopolies, respectively. Science and the useful arts. The science part refers to the copyright monopoly, and the useful arts has nothing to do with creative works it is arts in the same sense as artisan, that is, craftsmanship. So lets start looking at what is not in this passage. The first and obvious thing we note is that the purpose of the copyright monopoly isnt to enable somebody to make money, and never was. Its sole purpose was and is to advance humanity as a whole. The monopoly begins and ends with the public interest; it does not exist for the benefit of the author and inventor. Thus, the copyright monopoly is a balance between the publics benefit of progress of humanitys overall knowledge, and the same publics interest of having access to that knowledge. The balance of the copyright monopoly is one between two interests of the public. Make careful note that the copyright industry is not considered a stakeholder and that their interests are not considered valid for the purpose of making these laws; they are
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beneficiaries of the monopoly, for certain, but they are not stakeholders and their interests are not to be considered in making the law.
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The second thing we note is the science part. The US Constitution only gives Congress the right to Design by RyanDownieprotect works of knowledge educational works, if you like with a copyright monopoly. Creative works such as movies and music are nowhere to be Copy CC and Privacy found whatsoever in this empowerment of Congress to create temporary governmentsanctioned monopolies. Which brings us to the third notable item: the exclusive right. This is what we would refer to colloquially as a monopoly. The copyright industry has been tenacious in trying to portray the copyright monopoly as property, when in reality, the exclusive rights created are limitations of property rights (it prohibits me from storing the bitpatterns of my choosing on my own hardware). Further, it should be noted that this monopoly is not a guarantee to make money. It is a legal right to prevent others from attempting to do so. Theres a world of difference. You can have all the monopolies you like and still not make a cent. The fourth notable item is the for limited times. This can be twisted and turned in many ways, obviously; it has been argued that forever less a day is still limited in the technical sense. But from my personal perspective and Ill have to argue, from the perspective of everybody reading this text anything that extends past our time of death is not limited in time. Now, other countries have other rationales for the copyright monopoly (which, as I described earlier, is a hodgepodge of monopolies ranging from a commercial exclusivity on performances, to a statutory right to being named as an author two obviously quite different mechanisms that should never have had the same name). The original copyright monopoly, which was enacted by Queen Mary I on May 4, 1557, was created as a repressive tool against freedom of speech in order to crush political opposition. Victor Hugos Berne Convention 400 years later was primarily focused on so-called moral rights of authors the right to be named as author, for instance. But no law lays out the purpose of the monopoly this clearly. The key takeaway here is that theres no law whatsoever written with the purpose of enabling somebody to make a living doing their favorite pastime. That is not and has never been the purpose of the copyright monopoly. I find it quite useful to point at the US Constitution when people think that the copyright monopoly is somehow there to guarantee somebodys right to make money. Theres no such thing, nowhere on the planet, not for any entrepreneur.
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Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at falkvinge.net focuses on information policy. Follow @Falkvinge 12.3K followers Book Falkvinge as speaker?
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Rob8urcakes 3 hours ago

So the law of Copyright isn't really to create an industry of extortion, bribery and thievery from all the great performers, actors, and artistes? Cool :)
10 people liked this. Like Reply
SomeYahoo 53 minutes ago

or isn't to control everything where everyone must live in fear and defer to you like peasants like a king, even to the point of your own demise through obscurity, like many artists choose to do
Like Reply
chronoss 2 hours ago

here is an example basic edition dungeons and dragons , both authors are passed on , its over 35 plus years old NOT sold directly any more and YET if i made a game in a browser based on 4-5 books i cant make any money for doing something with it...and enhancing it and thus making a new work. no one has done this so go ahead they told me i could as long as i dont make money.... well thats incentive isn't it? TO show you how popular it would be on a defunct ebook torrent site that had those books i put the half finished game up and of the 2500 members inside one day ( 24 hrs ) 2400 grabbed a copy. So just who is NOT benefiting here? ME of course cause i cant make a buck for my efforts and YOU. "YOU"? well your not getting a game like this done unless THEY WOTC have complete control , a license thats too expensive to get and make most of the profits from and it will be far more expensive then anything i put together. If copyrights are to further society how is this help it and the authors ( BOTH ARE NOW DEAD ) from a set of books that are no longer even sold....haha the whole thing is a joke and one day when the earth faces a doom , i'll say maybe if we had no patents and copyrights someone might have invented the fix....
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this form a censorship and control will be the doom of humankind, mark my words. P.S. I've stopped making it and i won't finish it nor will i bother with anything like it. THERE thats progress.... p.s.s. if i wanted to legally release it they have a open gaming license that would in affect mean that in-order for you to legally have a copy you must have OR prove you have the books they are based on ergo buy 4-5 books that are not sold any more....brilliant LOL. unless you still have your ancient copies you cant play this NOR look at the code.And yes i have moved on to other stuff of my own making and won't ever touch anything to do with DnD any more.
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i totally get ya, i would like to make series but what would happen is i will end up committing a sita sings the blues because the songs i want to use are copyrighted i actually would be fine licensing them IF THE LICENSE COSTS WHERE ACTUALLY SANE i'm talking like 1 to 10$ per song not 100000000$ per song like it is now, god forbid it is a popular song then it'd be like 9945974397543509379357353billion $$ to license it! no wonder people just say screw it and use what they want anyway, or give up
1 person liked this. Like Reply
Dondilly 2 hours ago

If copyright lasted until the end of the world less 1 day, the mayans predict copyright will end on dec 20th this year. 24hrs gloating at the MAFIAA 's world ending a day before everyone else. Knowing our luck they would use their 24hrs headstart in the hereafter to impose copyright there too.
Like Reply
Killer 1 hour ago

How can you trust the Mayans that so called predicted the end of the world when they didn't even see their own ending Lmao
Anyone 1 hour ago

they also didn't consider leap years the mayan calender ended a few months ago
Like Reply
Violated0 2 hours ago

There are not many days when I can't fault the ideas of Rick Falkvinge but this is one of those days when he is spot on. Well done an excellent coverage of the situation but of
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course Congress has much warped things since. I am sure the MAFIAA shrills will soon reply back. These days I do see more arts progression outside of the copyright cartels which benefits society when they only benefit their own income and greed. If Hollywood vanished tomorrow I believe life would go on just fine for all.
Anon 2 hours ago

Wow! Now THIS has REALLY advanced the cause of piracy. lol well done. Now back to business as usual.
Like Reply
Anyone 2 hours ago

got nothing constructive to contribute?
Guest 1 hour ago

Unable to refute anything in Rick Falkvinge's article, Anon decides to simply post bullshit and hope people don't notice he's got nothing. (We did notice, though. Whoops.) Y'know Anon, if the government ever starts actually obeying the Copyright Clause in the Constitution, you and the MAFIAA will be completely fucked. Sleep tight. :)

"Now back to business as usual." what business, trolling?
1 person liked this. Like Reply
Guest 10 minutes ago

You mean crowding under Daddy Pelouzey's special desk for some industry white chocolate, while gloating over how you're moving onto (or should that be back?) suing children? You psychopaths have very, very strange definitions of what constitutes as "business", much less "victory".
Like Reply
TottiTT 2 hours ago

I suppose there are several passes contradicting in certain cases. Otherwise this would've been used long time ago, by 'Hollywood' itself if not others. ? '[Congress has the power] to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited
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Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.'
Like Reply
Sequentus 43 minutes ago

I'm not sure I understand how a copyright monopoly is in the interest of the public. How does the public benefit from it?
Like Reply
Anyone 39 minutes ago

the idea is that if you restrict it, more people are likely to create something, because it is now "protected" today we of course know that is not true, in the last decade we had a surge in culture not because of copyright, but despite it
Like Reply
Sequentus 32 minutes ago

Ahh, I see, thank you. I certainly agree that this line of reasoning has been proven wrong, at least in the modern age. Claiming "ownership" of an idea can never lead to good. Authorship, sure, but private ownership, no. It's as absurd as saying you own love, or past actions, or numbers. They are non-diminishable, non-material things, and the very concept of ownership is not compatible with them, just the same as with ideas.
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