Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggleton
So If I take a printed book and by the sweat of my brow convert it into a well formatted epub, is the book now mine to sell?
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I understand what your getting at, but no. There were at one point resources with no owner - nature in its pristine state. Man working these resources imparted his own nature into the resulting worked resource, and therefore could claim ownership of it. If another person stole my property and continued to work it, then my work and his work are in fact now a part of that property. However, it never ceased to be mine. In fact, I am now entitled to seek restitution from the stealing party because he altered my property. Stolen property doesn't become the stealer's property no matter what they do to it.
Take a song for example, as this is a common scenario. If I play Led Zeppelin songs in a concert without their permission, I have violated their rights to their work. However, take a track like "G-L-O-R-I-A" for example. Van Morrison has the rights to the original song. If I recorded it without his permission, and sold it for a profit, he would be justified in coming after me for damages for not licensing his work - it doesn't become mine by whatever of myself is imparted into the recording because it is still Van Morrison's property I am imparting myself upon. However, in the cases that he did license the use of his song - there are probably 25 different recordings out there by major artists on major labels - because these artists worked and added something of themselves to his song in their recordings, Van Morrison can't just bootleg a Shadows of Night recording of G-L-O-R-I-A and start selling it as if it his now his sole property.