I wish someone would force this issue into court on a couple of new points.

If an entity cannot fairly service it's copyrighted material, then it should not be a violation of the law to use the material.

So, If I were to contact the "owner" of the article you intended to share with this board, and they ignore me because there is no "profit" in it for them...then f'em.
They forfeit their right to sue those of us who have no intention of profiting off of their copyrighted material.

It's that simple.

Point number two...

A very small part of my income comes from creating demo tapes for actors who have appeared in movies.

Technically, we are violating copyright laws when we put VHS tapes together and make a new master.

However, The same entities that could sue me for this endeavor are in fact THE SAME ENTITES THAT BENEFIT FROM THE END RESULT.

A day doesn't go by where the studios are not popping in actor demo reels that were illegally made. They do it because it helps them reach critical decisions as to who they will hire.

The same people who could sue, are the same people who the tapes are actually made for.

A record label hears a demo made by a new talent, and the songs are all "covers" of existing copyrighted songs...the talent's "cover" of these songs convinces the studios to sign them...clearly this was an "Illegal" act, yet it is done all the time.

Final point, do newspaper articles credit all of their sources at the bottom of the article...isn't that some form of sanctioned theft?


------------------
Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex (edited December 14, 2001).]