Eric Flint: Copyright Property

Does Eric Flint think that copyright gives an author property rights to his or her creation? In other words, is copyright property? Why or why not?

Copyright does not imply property. Flint believes that copyright grants a creator a limited monopoly right to his/her creation, but that no actual property right is involved. Copyright is not to be used to provide a living for authors or inventors, but to set up a system that maximizes the benefits of intellectual work for the Public domain. Copyright is a privilege, not a right. Flint believes, “it is, in fact, an evil and iniquitous privilege.” Sadly, Copyright laws are necessary since the government hasn't created anything better to promote the work of creative individuals. Regardless of copyright

As mentioned in class, Eric Flint’s views align exactly with the way the Constitution is written. Both emphasize the importance of encouraging creativity. As Flint explains, copyright has lost its purpose. Copyright should not to be used to pay the inventor/author but to protect the intellectual work for the Public domain. Flint believes having something copyrighted for his “lifetime plus 70” is ridiculous. “It is nothing but an excuse for giant corporations to lock up society's intellectual heritage as their monopoly for as long as they possibly can so they can gouge the public.” Flint believes the current “life plus 70” copyright is only useful for corporations. As emphasized in class, the purpose of the clause is to promote progress, not to invest in authors/inventors; any rights to the authors and inventors are granted as a means to the end not the end

We can’t purchase media from a different region and play it in our own region; we have to purchase it from a specific region. As mentioned in class, we are given the key to such media but we are still locked out from using our product with other devices. Flint does not believe the DRM can prevent piracy. As mentioned before, “hackers” can circumvent the system and in order to prevent these circumvention big companies, such as Sony, would have to install chips into all media devices to regulate what we do with our devices. In order to truly prevent “piracy”, new regulations concerning the use of computers, tablets, scanners, and other capturing devices would have to be implemented worldwide. Not only is this a monopoly, but it is a violation of free speech, privacy and other rights. Also, DMR is seen by individuals as a means to prevent entrepreneurs from competing with big companies such as Sony, Ubisoft, Activision, and