everchangingdeity opened this issue on Aug 16, 2002 ยท 51 posts
demosthenes_aborigin posted Sat, 17 August 2002 at 3:42 PM
Why on earth are sales and ownership of electronic stuff not covered by the common practice of the real world? If I purchase a thing from a producer or his duly licensed vendor, that thing is mine to do with as I choose - so long as I do not claim that I am the originator of that thing, nor replicate that thing for distribution. I can resell the original - that does not have deleterious effect on the profits of the originator, since he has made his money off that one thing once. If I were to copy that thing and sell or give away these copies I would then certainly be cutting into the profits of that thing's originator and be guilty of plagiarism/piracy. Once I become competent in the process of doing so, it is my firm intent to make and sell props/models, and I would be quite upset if an end-user bootlegged any of them and distributed these illegitimate copies - that'd be money out of MY pocket, and since I was the one who put in the brainsweat and time in that object's creation it is fair to deem this as theft on both an ethical and legal basis. Additionally, I would be a little annoyed if some clown flounced around CLAIMING to have created this object, since that could also hurt my profits (by diverting customers) on top of being a massive insult and quite possibly an example of identity fraud - which is a felony. On the other hand, why the hell should I be allowed to "demand" credit for these props in each and every single public use thereof? That's excessive. I'd appreciate such recognition, but I just don't see how demanding it could be legally justified. That'd be like Mazda demanding that every time I brought my B2200 light pickup to a full, complete stop I "must" get out and at the top of my voice sing the Mazda corporate anthem! Such nonsense.