Gray (or Grey)

[steve.b@TQS.COM (Steve Berlin)]

The topic of copywrites, and the use of copywrited material, has been a
hot topic here lately, so as One Who's Been There, I feel compelled to
throw my tuppence into the discussion:

Putting TLTC&TC on a Tape Tree is a bad idea because you can go to your
favorite local video retailer and buy a copy (like I did last night).
Putting, say, Kate's Saturday Night Live performances on the tape is a good
idea because you can't commercially buy them anywhere.  Is it copywrite
infringement?  Yes, no question.  Does anyone get hurt?  Nope, since it's
not available anywhere else.  (As opposed to copying TLTC&TC, which WOULD
hurt folks financially).  Would anyone bother to prosicute?  I doubt it.

Like the Lovehounds shirts I designed.  Copywrite infringement?  Yes, no
question.  Did anyone get hurt?  Nope, because EMI has no shirts out, and I
doubt if they suddenly will put out a shirt for a 12-year-old album.  If they
did, I would buy one in a second.  Folks at Sony knew about the shirts, but
were VERY supportive (I need to make this point clear:  The people who happen
to work at Sony, *NOT* Sony, Inc. Itself, were supportive).  If anyone - Sony,
EMI, or Kate Herself, said "cease and desist", I would not have made the
shirts (or at least, not with the cover of The Dreaming or any other copywrited
material).  No one did, so I went ahead and did what I did.

I have no idea what the Whole Story is with the Sarah MacLaughlin shirts is,
so I can't comment on that (off topic:  Did anyone catch that brief snippet
of "Possession" on "Northern Exposure" 2 or 3 weeks ago?)

Oh, I might as well put in this plug:  The deadline for ordering shirts
from Mary-Helen (who's Email address I don't happen to have on hand, but
she posted about a week or so ago so I can dig it up) is coming up soon
(The 31st, if I remember correctly).

- Stev0 of the Kopywrite Liberation Front

"Hey, that's MINE!" - words least likely to be uttered by Richard Stallman