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Re: Open source - Free software


From: Larry Bristol
Subject: Re: Open source - Free software
Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2006 08:02:10 -0500
User-agent: KNode/0.10.1

David Kastrup wrote:

> You'll find that he does not sell the content itself (though he'll
> pass on a manuscript in the course of the sale), but rights to print
> said contents, made explicit in a contract.

You actually have that exactly right.  He sells them the RIGHT to print and
sell copies of that content (his intellectual property), which he still
owns.  That is the very definition of the copyright concept.  When a
consumer purchases said book, they acquire that content in a physical form. 
They do not, however, also acquire the right to make further copies of the
intellectual property.  And if either the publisher or the author chooses
to give a free copy of that book to someone, a book reviewer for example,
that free copy does not convey the right to make further copies of that
content.

Copyright does not apply to concepts and thoughts.  Copyright applies only
to the *expression* of those concepts and thoughts.  For books, copyrights
apply to the arrangement of the words, and not to the physical volumes that
contain those words.  Similarly, for software, copyrights apply to the
arrangement of zeros and ones, and not to the media upon which they are
recorded.

-- 
Larry Bristol --- The Double Luck
http://www.doubleluck.com



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