[MPlayer-dev-eng] KiSS of copyright

[Christof Buergi]

D Richard Felker III sagte:
> Perhaps you'd like to explain this better with quotes from the
> actual law/constitution. I'm not at all convinced.

Right. I did some research, and I have to admit I was partly wrong.
This is a normal law, not constitutional.

http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/231_1/a10.html

Point 1: The creator has the exclusive right to decide, if, when and
how the work shall be used.

For anything but computer programs, this right of the creator is
limited by paragraph 19 we discussed earlier. For software, however,
that's how it is.

So much about swiss law. Now I don't know a thing about US law, so I
asked someone who does. He told me that there is a similar ruling in
the US copyright law (again, not the constitution), and there are
indeed some people trying to remove that rule. Their reasoning isn't
bad, in fact: They claim that this rule contradicts the constitution.
And since the constitution beats normal law, this rule should be
considered void.

Now, I don't know about you, but IMHO this will be exciting. If this
rule falls, the copyright law will collapse like a house of cards. The
part of my brain bothering me with reality checks, however, says this
won't gonna happen.

> This imaginary rule does not exist in the U.S. Go read U.S.
> copyright law and see for yourself. The law does not define copies
> of the copyrighted work as 'property' of the copyright holder.
> Illegal copying is infringement, not theft.

You're right. Sorry.

> And copyright essentially does not cover acts other than copying and
> public performance.

This, however, is not true anymore since the US signed the Berne
convention. I've been told about the copyright you had before this
(the founders copyright). And to be pretty direct: The new copyright
is a bunch of crap compared to the old law.

> I don't care. The benefits we'd get from eliminating copyright
> totally far outweigh the loss of the GPL's protections.

I agree for the most part, but you are aware that this would bring us
to a situation envisioned by the BSD people? ^_^

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