> I've been reading this thread for a few days (I just joined the mailing
> list since I'm working on a list of operating systems for the PC) and I
> wonder how this issue would be adressed if the complaint came from
> France. Under French law, anything you write is your property (even if
> you sold rights to it to someone else).
Pretty much the same in the U.S.
> This means for instance that a musician in a philarmonic orchestra could
> object to a TV diffusion of a concert (of course that musician probably
> wouldn't get much work after that).
Interesting point. In the U.S., the performer had no right in the
performance until very recently (when the US signed onto GATT). It's too
early to know if the new GATT provisions would extend that far. I kind
of doubt it.
> So if someone in France actually copied a text I wrote and included it in
> a book, I could have all of the books destroyed if I object to the
> printing of my stuff. I have no idea how this would be handled if it was
> an american publisher though...
The same as if it were a U.S.-written work. The U.S. and France are both
parties to the Berne Convention, which requires each signatory to apply
its own copyright laws to works of nationals of other signatory
countries, without regard to the origin or the work.
But the U.S. laws allow for "fair use," which would allow some quoting of
the work (but generally not in full), and also limit remedies to actual
monetary damages (either in monetary loss to the author or monetary
profit to the copier) if the copyright had not been registered. If the
copyright is registered, you can elect statutory damages and are also
eligible for attorney's fees. What this means is that most suits for
infringement are not worth the cost.
Terry Carroll, Copyright FAQ author (which FAQ is registered as Copyright
No. TX-3-908-677 <g>)
-- Terry Carroll | "Clearly, this invention provides the world's Santa Clara, CA | first weapons simulator for use by motorists." carrollt@netcom.com | - U.S. Patent No. 5,314,371 (May 24, 1994)
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