Curse you copyright laws!
This is the first time in a while that I've been truely disgusted by something. And this time, my disgust is directed at a certain company called VIZ Media. Viz Media just today sent out Cease & Desist letters to fansubbing groups such as Kuro-Hana, and Animada, concerning their subbing of the anime Death Note. Said company demanded that all Death Note episodes be removed from the fansub groups sites by June 22nd. Now, the really disgusting thing is that Viz Media does not, in fact, offer SUBBED EPISODES OF DEATH NOTE!. Is this not a prime example of why copyright laws hurt the market? If Viz Media does ever decide to release subbed episodes of Death Note, then they will be able to charge any price they want, and nobody will be able to do anything about it. And does not the Copyright Clause of the Constitution state(I'm copying this down from my copy of the Constitution
The Congress shall have the power to promote the progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries
Exactly what about Copyright laws is "promoting the progress of Science and useful Arts"?
Here is a picture of the letter sent
My Dad works for a non-profit organization, but they have a small online store, which sells t-shirts, books, etc. So many times I've seen the situation where a book is copyrighted, but out of print, and there Dad is with the book in his hands, dying to scan it, but can't do it because of copyright laws. Something wonderful that should be made available to the world, can't be. It happens all the time.
I am not apposed to the idea of buying anime. I have bought some of the Death Note manga from VIZ Media, and when the series ends in two weeks,(kind of late so be sending out C&D letters!) I was planning to possibly buy some of the DVDS once they were released because I love the series to much. But now, I, Julia Tucker, solemnly promise that I will never buy another Viz Media product unless I am unable to download it, and there is absolutely no other solution.
Viz Media's lost customer,
-Moderngeek
Comments: 3
Comment modified)
Second, we're talking about PIXELS on a SCREEN here, that can be MULTIPLIED as many times as needed with no cost. How can something be stolen if there is no scarcity? You can call it something else, but it sure ain't stealing.
Third, Viz Media doesn't even produce subbed episodes of Death Note, so how the heck can they claim their business is being hurt?
What I want to know is which idiot first thought of the idea of "copyright". I can kind of, slightly, sort of, see how one might think that copyrighting a book would benefit the market, if he/she was perhaps a cup of dirt(That's halfway an Ask a Ninja quote. Ask a Ninja FTW!), but copyrighting machinery,(patents!) or ideas?! That's beyond me.
About your first example, we're not taking about having to put somebody's name on something. We're talking about not being allowed to read the quote at all, because according to the feds, we might 'steal' the quote for ourselves.
As for your second example, school isn't like the market, and if a product isn't good enough, then it won't survive. But, if there's, say, a patent on it, then somebody else can't come along and improve the product.
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