Wide World of Technology

Article on false copyright claims
Posted by: alexbee 2007-08-30 17:34:24

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=787244#PaperDownload
Teenagers downloading music may not be the worst copyright offenders. See this article at the Social Science Research Network (available for download in PDF file with free registration) about the growing problem of copyfraud — in which publishers, archives, and distributors make false claims of copyright to shut down free expression. From the paper: 'Copyfraud is everywhere. False copyright notices appear on modern reprints of Shakespeare's plays, Beethoven's piano scores, greeting card versions of Monet's Water Lilies, and even the US Constitution. Archives claim blanket copyright in everything in their collections. Vendors of microfilmed versions of historical newspapers assert copyright ownership. These false copyright claims, which are often accompanied by threatened litigation for reproducing a work without the owner's permission, result in users seeking licenses and paying fees to reproduce works that are free for everyone to use..."