Re: DMCA alternatives

["Stephen D. Franklin" <franklin@uci.edu>]

> Just a reminder:  To be precise, fair use is not a right; it's a doctrine,
> a defense against a claim of infringement.

<< snip >>

> Robert Bolick
> Vice President, New Business Development
> McGraw-Hill Professional

Just a reminder: To be precise, copyright is not a right; it's something
the Congress has the power to grant, for limited times, for particular
purposes:

   The Congress shall have 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;

While no legal or constitutional scholar, it would seem to me that this
means that "fair use" and "copyright" spring from the same source: the
legislative ability to promote the progress of science and the useful
arts.

Stephen D. Franklin
Network & Academic Computing Services  +  Information and Computer Science
                          University of California
Irvine, California 92697-2225             Irvine, California 92697-3425
E-mail: franklin@uci.edu
Web: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/indiv/franklin/