Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!decvax!decwrl!rhea!akov68!boyajian From: boyajian@akov68.DEC Newsgroups: net.followup Subject: re: Copyright Violations Message-ID: <6415@decwrl.UUCP> Date: Thu, 22-Mar-84 06:26:10 EST Article-I.D.: decwrl.6415 Posted: Thu Mar 22 06:26:10 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 23-Mar-84 20:42:51 EST Organization: DEC Engineering Network Lines: 40 > Posting a lyric > will keep n number of people from buying the album or the sheet music for > that song the same way posting the kernel will keep n number of people from > buying a tape from Bell, to the same result. Loss of business and a > straightforward copyright violation. > ---Chuq Von Rospach I disagree; you are talking apples and oranges here. The second half of that statement is true: posting the kernel lessen the number of sales of the software from Bell, because anyone who has the source can *reproduce the object software exactly as Bell sells it*. Posting the lyrics will not do the same. By getting a free copy of the lyrics to "Eat It", I couldn't reproduce the song as it is sold by the record company; I would need the musical scores and a band, at the very least. Someone else posted a comment to the effect that the lyrics are really all there is to the song, and thus they should especially be protected. I say, "Bullshit!" I can see the point in that they certainly are the most important part of the song and the only thing that sets the song apart from that which it parodies. Still, there is more to the song than just the lyrics, namely the musical score and sound. If you seriously think that anyone would not buy the record or the sheet music because they were able to get a free copy of the lyrics from USENET, you are living off-planet somewhere. Anyone who buys a piece of sheet music does so because of the *music*, not because of the lyrics; lyrics can be transcribed off of the record, music can't (unless you're a very, *very* talented musician). Anyone who buys the record does so to listen to the song, not to read the lyr- ics. As I said in a previous posting, printing song lyrics would be more likely to *generate* sales in the record, rather than inhibit them. It's one thing to determine a literal application of the law and another to determine a practical application of the law. Let's not confuse the two. Hav- ing and using both gives the law-enforcement agencies and the courts flexiblity in dealing with crime. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC Maynard) UUCP: (decvax!decwrl!rhea!akov68!boyajian) ARPA: (decwrl!rhea!akov68!boyajian@Shasta)