Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
But does the carpenter get paid every time someone wants to build a chair that looks like his chair? Does the carpenter get to refuse to allow anyone else to build a chair that looks like his chair? An author's manuscript is his personal property. The copyright of the words in that manuscript are not.
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I'm not a crank on this subject and don't plan to go on forever with it ... but this seems like a specious argument to me. Words are not random. By creating a character and story, the writer has produced something
unique. Not only should he own (and be able to sell) his own UNIQUE production but he should have the right to control how his
creation is used by others — and he should have the ability to pass his production (his
creation) down to his children.
As for building a chair that can't be copied... Manufacturers
can patent
specific designs that can't be copied. Or make smartphones that can't be copied. (Try to manufacture an iePhone — the "e" is silent — sometime and see how far this "free to copy" concept takes you). Every unique character and story is automatically specific. I just think a writer should have the right to his or her own work. It wasn't written by the "Collective," it was written by one person. That person should control what they produce.