[free-sklyarov] Generic reply to the "break into your house" comments

Mickey McGown mickeym at mindspring.com
Tue Jul 24 16:42:32 PDT 2001


Seth David Schoen wrote:

> mickey writes:
>
> > "This same individual would be outraged if someone broke into his home
> > and stole his TV set."
> >
> > Yes, as would anyone. Yet, your example isn't complete. It's not what is
> > at issue. Consider the case where you have left your keys on the coffee
> > table. Is it illegal for you to break in to your own house? That's what
> > people mean by "fair use."
>
> No it isn't.  (Also, there's the distinction between fair uses and
> noninfringing uses in general.  How do we know which of these "breaking
> into your own house" would be?)

You're right, this should be more like a "substantial non-infringing use."

> > Gaining access to something I already own,
> > such as my (paid for) copy of a copyrighted work, should not be seen as
> > bad. Why should printing an eBook to read offline, or transferring an
> > eBook to use on my second PC be seen as illegal?
>
> Right, but the analogy to physical property is still weak.  If your
> house were like a copyrighted work, you wouldn't be allowed to let
> other people visit it!
>

I resort to the physical analogies in order to continue an analogy. So many
people have used the lock analogy against my position that a response was
necessary. Even though copyright infringement is a unique animal, most people
beleive it to be akin to theft (Thanks, Jack).

mickeym





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