Amazon and Tolkein Estate force author to destroy all copies of his work. Only pirated copies will survive. - eviltoast
  • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    Yes, copyright exists to encourage new works - which the author ignored by creating content violating copyright law. Never mind the public, this dude stole from the copyright holders. He’s a pirate and he got caught.

    • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      11 months ago

      LOTR should be public domain right now. Only because copyright was extended to draconian levels would it be a question.

      Copyright has long been perverted to disregard the interests of the public. You are defending rent-seekers.

      • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        I’m not defending anyone. I’m explaining the contradiction in the previous statement.

        • Urist@lemmy.ml
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          11 months ago

          No there is new work that has been done that you are reducing to “piracy”. As if intellectual and creative processes ever could take place in a vacuum. The only contradiction is that copyright laws as a concept do nothing than stifle innovation and progress. If you do not like how anyone can profit from other people’s ideas you should maybe rethink your stance on monetisation schemes in general instead.

          • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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            11 months ago

            Everything you just said is the opposite of reality and facts. What’s going on in this sub?

            There is a new work by an author using someone else’s intellectual property. That’s what’s this is about. That’s how they were sued.

            Copyright laws specifically promote new ideas by punishing those who re-use existing ideas.

            You can profit from others’ ideas by asking permission and paying a licensing fee. This happens all the time. It’s how business is done every day.

            • Goldmage263@sh.itjust.works
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              11 months ago

              True. To throw my opinion into the mix, if the Rings of Power show did actually copy from his work, they should look to partner with Demetrious instead of all this nonsense. I agree he legally can’t profit off the IP of the Tolkien estate as laws stand, but copywrite also lasts far longer than it has any good reason to. It should be the author’s lifetime plus a decade or so. Finally, it is an affront to creativity everywhere to order the destruction of all physical and electronic copies. That should not happen. Ever.

              • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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                11 months ago

                I’m not getting into how long a copyright should last. I don’t have a meaningful opinion on it.

                What it seems people are overlooking (or forgiving?) is that the guy published a book about characters (IP) he doesn’t own. Taking something that doesn’t belong to you is theft.

                Whether or not Amazon should option his material is irrelevant if he didn’t get permission to use it in the first place. I mean, fan fiction is one thing. Creative license and educational purposes could be argued. But he published a freaking book!

                Do you think Zack Snyder should get to put out a Rebel Moon and call it “Rebel Moon: A Star Wars Story” without getting permission or paying for licensing? Is this the reality this sub believes we live in? If you write a novel and I read it and soon start writing better more successful stories based explicitly on your characters without crediting you or sharing in my profit, how would you feel? Should your work be public domain? Is that what you (collective) feel is best for “the public”?

                I don’t really have an opinion on what should happen with the work either. I could see some cases where it would be a major loss for the public to have the work erased. This could be catastrophic for classic literature. For something so new and not having any established cultural significance (as much as you wish it did), I’d go with whatever a judge believes is best under the law. You’re welcome to argue the validity of the law, and I may agree with you, but that’s a different conversation.

                • Urist@lemmy.ml
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                  11 months ago

                  Taking something that doesn’t belong to you is theft.

                  This is the point I wanted to contend and is the main premise I disagree with. In my opinion, nothing was taken, at most borrowed, by the author of the book.

                  But he published a freaking book!

                  Yes, is it not great?

                  Do you think Zack Snyder should get to put out a Rebel Moon and call it “Rebel Moon: A Star Wars Story” without getting permission or paying for licensing?

                  In my dreams, yes.

                  Is this the reality this sub believes we live in? If you write a novel and I read it and soon start writing better more successful stories based explicitly on your characters without crediting you or sharing in my profit, how would you feel?

                  I would be fucking thrilled to be honest. If someone not only cited my research, but actually improved on it I would schedule a meeting to talk with them ASAP.

                  Should your work be public domain? Is that what you (collective) feel is best for “the public”?

                  YES. Everything that is published should be publicly available as default. I understand that this would require another method for financing those that actually make new stuff, but that is something that is sorely needed anyway. What usually happens is that the actual creators are left with pennies while legal entities own IP almost indefinitely.

                  Also, I want to add that had IP laws always been what they are today, much great work from the past (that is now enjoying protection by copyright) could not have existed. I also ask how say the dwarves in Tolkien’s tales could be copyrighted when they are based on stories about dwarves from Norse mythology?

                  TL;DR there was a special time when all work got copyrighted into oblivion. It has to end so that humanity can create more cool new stuff just as we did back then.

      • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        It’s mind boggling how anyone could possibly consider otherwise. Aside from your own life, there’s nothing more belonging to oneself than their thoughts.

        • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          Once you share your thought, they are no longer yours alone, and the thoughts they spark in others are, in some ways, both yours and theirs. Or, if you prefer to hear it another way, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

          • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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            11 months ago

            This entire sub is delusional. You believe in things which are untrue. You make things up to justify theft. It’s funny and it’s sad. I really don’t know where you get these irrational theories or how you’d ever justify them in a court.

            If you want to live in literal communism, sure, you can establish that any idea anyone expresses belongs to the world. In the world we actually live in, we have laws protecting people’s intellectual property in order for them to generate content and profit from those original ideas. Otherwise, what’s the point of having an idea at all if anyone can make money from it. This further promotes new original ideas that aren’t derivative of existing ones. This is exactly what the OP stated and I agreed with.

            • prole@sh.itjust.works
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              11 months ago

              Every now and then I see threads like this on lemmy where people are getting downvoted into negatives despite being objectively correct about something (and the wrong info being upvoted). I think there may be a lot of very young, inexperienced, naive, and gullible children here. At least I hope they’re children.

          • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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            11 months ago

            Are you all children in here? Did you have nap time and your sippy today?

      • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        K. Evidently reading the room is more important than reading the article.