Copyright Antics

One of my favorite websites is abovethelaw.com, because you learn about stuff like this: https://abovethelaw.com/2018/03/plai...and-the-beast/

Some outfit called Rearden is claiming that they own the technology used in certain aspects of movie making these days and that it was stolen from them, so therefore they own all the movies. Here's an excerpt:

Previously, a district court judge tossed out Rearden’s copyright claims because they were pretty crazy. I almost wish he had allowed them to go forward because the parade of horribles from amici everywhere would’ve made for entertaining reading. Rearden was essentially arguing that because it was the copyright owner of the software program, it therefore owned the output of the software, as well. As a result, any computer-generated characters using the software were unauthorized derivatives, at least according to Rearden.

As an aside, I would happily see a lot of the technology used in movies these days just go away so actors could go back to acting and stop just posing for the CGI machine, but that's just me.

If I want to watch cartoons, I'll watch Bugs Bunny. Better than most of the movies, anyway.

So, if I own a patent for a screwdriver, I also own everything that was ever screwed-together with it? If I owned a patent for transparent plastic, I own all of Disney's ink-and-paint movies? Good luck with that. This is most certainly not the purview of copyright law, which covers "creative works."

However, never underestimate the patience of a lawyer who's figured out that you've got money to spend and that you don't know too much about law. "Groklaw.net" documented the trials and tribulations of SCO Unix, who was easily convinced that buying a bunch of moldy AT&T-Unix copyrights would let them "own Linux," among many other things. The attorneys on both sides carefully bankrupted them before they crushed them.

Originally Posted by frankbell If I want to watch cartoons, I'll watch Bugs Bunny. Better than most of the movies, anyway.

Eh, Whats up Doc? What people don't do to make money...Makes you want to avoid or at least read those licences just in case. Can you imagine if a company actually slipped something like that in the agreement? Make gnu sound good

BTW Bugs is a great choice but I'm thinking more like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, I tell you what... there is no 3D ever going to match those.

Originally Posted by frankbell If I want to watch cartoons, I'll watch Bugs Bunny. Better than most of the movies, anyway.

Tom and Jerry! Watching Tom get his ass kicked was a great way to start the day on Saturday mornings!

The audacity, hubris and sheer egotism of people and by extension their companies would be humorous if it wasn't so anti-social and blind. The old saw in Real Estate is investment requires three things - location, location and location. This is certainly true since the value of a thing has a lot to do with the environment it is in and also the one it came from. This person, Reardon, and likely his lawyer(s) as well never stopped to consider "Where do you draw the line?" How likely is it that such software would be created by some tribal dude in the Amazon? or anywhere say 100 years ago? So does he owe it all to some "ancestor" whose invention(s) made his possible? I can't recall iof she won or not but I do recall being stunned that Paris Hilton tried to trademark the phrase "That's hot"

The laws regarding any sort of Intellectual Property are needed but they are also supposed to be extremely well-defined and above all temporary. Sometimes I chuckle and sometimes I just get miffed when I see Amazon and Netflix streaming some show I saw for free 50 years ago and yet I pay for this "service". I paid and went to see Kubrick's "2001" 10 times and I might even be willing to do it again on some huge movie house screen with an awesome sound system but I'm not about to pay Amazon or Netflix to show it on my 32 inch monitor any other way than if they just manage to slip it in to the "package deal" to pad it out.

The original intent of Patent and Copyright laws was to deliver a protected monopoly for a time to encourage R&D and give time to at least break even if not make a tidy little profit BUT then it is siupposed to enter Public Domain after a reasonable amount of time to encourage further development. The effect of ever pushing "reasonable" further and further back is stagnation. Make no mistake about it. It is figuratively defecating in one's kitchen and was made vastly worse once software became involved since one could sell a thing, yet still have it... repeatedly. Obviously the effort, creativity and expense of creating innovative software needs to be protected, or at least in many cases, but Linux is living proof of the healthiness of a sharing environment. By direct comparison I don't see that Windows has evolved anywhere even remotely as far and fast as Linux has in the last 10-20 years.

http://www.hrussman.entadsl.com/ramb...intelprop.html

Originally Posted by Mill J ...I'm thinking more like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, I tell you what... there is no 3D ever going to match those.

I don't know - Kirk douglas and Arnold Schwarzenegger had a pretty good try in those roles (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080097/, real actors, so the ORIGINAL 3D)

The Warner Brothers Cartoons of the Golden Era, when Mel Blanc was doing the voices, are without a doubt magnificent. I never tire of them, whether it's Bugs or the Road Runner or Foghorn Leghorn or Pepe Le Pew or any of the others. And don't forget Martin the Martian. The WB cartoon outfit was something very special. The cartoons were great on many levels, as they were designed to open for movies, so they were crafted to appeal the kids and to adults.

As regards the lawsuit, one of the glories of America is that anyone can sue anyone else for any little thing. Hubris is part of lawyering. Winning, though, is a whole nother thing.

Later: Whoops! That was Marvin the Martian. Martin the Martian was an entirely different Martian.

Originally Posted by fido_dogstoyevsky I don't know - Kirk douglas and Arnold Schwarzenegger had a pretty good try in those roles (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080097/, real actors, so the ORIGINAL 3D)

Sorry I should have been more clear. I meant no 3D cartoon will ever match those old cartoons for details and expression. Watch an old Bugs or Wile E. And then watch something new, you'll see what I mean. A pencil can still out do a computer.

@OP Sorry didn't mean to hijack the thread.

I meant no 3D cartoon will ever match those old cartoons for details and expression.

I suspect that the folks who favor 3D have not figured out that an additional "D" does not mean more creativity.

Originally Posted by Mill J ..I meant no 3D cartoon will ever match those old cartoons for details and expression. Watch an old Bugs or Wile E. And then watch something new, you'll see what I mean. A pencil can still out do a computer. @OP Sorry didn't mean to hijack the thread.

I understand what you meant, and I agree, but I couldn't resist plugging my favourite western. I grew up on Warner Bros cartoons and it was years before I realised they only really had one main voice actor.

Are threads in General hijackable or can they meander? Not being a smart alec, but asking.