Interesting Guardian article by Cory Doctorow on copyright and how it punishes fans and rewards critics.
Quote:
When a group of fans of the Dune books received a copyright threat from the estate of Frank Herbert, they took the path of least resistance: they renamed and altered their re-creation of the novel's setting – a loving tribute created inside the virtual world of Second Life – so that it was no longer so recognisable as an homage to Herbert's classic science fiction novels.
The normal thing to do here is to rail at the stupidity of the Herbert estate in attacking these fans. After all, they weren't taking money out of the pockets of the estate, the chance of trademark dilution in this case is infinitesimal, the creators were celebrating and spreading their love for the series, they are assuredly all major fans and customers for the products the estate is trying to market, their little Second Life re-creation was obscure and unimportant to all but its users, and the estate's legal resources could surely be better used in finding new ways to make money than in finding new ways to alienate its best customers.
|
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...orow-copyright