Re: OMG!

[Roy and/or Janet Miller <millers@inetnebr.com>]

Frank Townsend wrote:

> First, why do you think that such a case would stand a good chance of being
> dismissed?  i.e., what part of copyright law do you believe depends on a
> copyright holder showing a "continuous interest" in a copyrighted work?

Recently I posted a reference to a story in the Wall Street Journal which
concerned copyright law. Short form was this: Mr. A wrote a book, and his
organization ( Org A) published it. After his death, the organization which owns
the copyright, refused to publish the book. Mr B, who was a student of Mr A
formed a new organization (Org B) which gave away copies of the book. Org A
sued. The article says that for the Org A to win the suit, they have to have a
financial interest, and since 1. The book wasn't being published by Org A, and
2. Org B was giving it away, Org A was certain to lose the suit. Except, that
people who read the book and joined Org B contributed money to Org B, and Org A
has won at two levels now saying that the money contributed belongs to them, and
that only they may publish the book.

It would be interesting to see a suit like this go all the way wouldn't it?

I wonder how it would apply, for example, to Apple with MacOS 6.x? Or Windows
3.x?

Roy

>
>
> Second, an injunction is a remedy that is unrelated to damages.  Attorney's
> fees and costs may be awarded at the discretion of the court (17 USC 505).
>
> "Sheldon Simms" <sheldon@interprice.com> wrote in message
> 20010507.141940.1960709859.12557@ip148.interprice.vi">news:20010507.141940.1960709859.12557@ip148.interprice.vi...
> > Im Artikel <X%CI6.24470$ua5.5922011@typhoon1.ba-dsg.net> schrieb "Frank
> > Townsend" <ftownsen@iamdigex.net>:
>
> > > The judicial system would certainly enforce an injunction in response to
> > > an action brought by a copyright holder and would also probably award
> > > attorney's fees.
> >
> > It depends on the situation. If the copyright holder had shown no
> > interest in the program for years, and suddenly decided to go to
> > court, I think there's a good chance the case would be dismissed.
> > Even in a situation where the copyright holder had shown a continuous
> > interest in the product and went to court to protect it, I question
> > whether he would receive anything more than actual damages.