From: Sten M. Drescher <smd@hrt216.brooks.af.mil>
Subject: Re: Jack "King" Kirby: ripped off by Marvel
Organization: AL/HRTI, Brooks AFB
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 21:10:17 GMT

On Fri, 25 Dec 1992 15:27:08 GMT, bgrubb@dante.nmsu.edu (GRUBB) said:

 GRUBB> Peter Michael Betz is compairing apples and oranges here.  What is involved
 GRUBB> is the copyright laws which are a real NUTTY piece of work.  Under
 GRUBB> the copyright law of the US EVERY article and picture posted to the
 GRUBB> Internet is copywrited and is the property of the person who posted it.
 GRUBB> There is one exception to this rule: if a person uses resources provided
 GRUBB> by his employer in DEVELOPMENT of a copyrightable item then the item
 GRUBB> is the property of the company and not the person {Universities operate
 GRUBB> under this idea with master and doctorate thesises or development work.}
 GRUBB> NOW comes the FUN part.  Through a set of cases copyright has been devided
 GRUBB> into two main part: intellectial and tangable. Tangable copyright is the accual
 GRUBB> product and opperates as explained above.  (The construction workers in
 GRUBB> Betzs example have no basis for complaint because the construction company
 GRUBB> and others provided the resources they needed to build the thing.  In fact so
 GRUBB> many people are involved that NOBODY can claim the copyright.)
 GRUBB> Intellectial copyright is where the problem comes from.  Under this
 GRUBB> idea the IDEA behind a copyrightable item remains the property of the
 GRUBB> PERSON who came up with it and the person "Must be fairly and
adequitly

	Except when the person sells those rights to another.

 GRUBB> compensated for the use of the idea".  This intellectial copyright was the
 GRUBB> whole reason behind the resent Apple vs. Apple, Apple vs IBM, and
 GRUBB> Apple vs MicroSoft and is now being used by comic book artists.
 GRUBB> So, they have just cause UNDER THE LAW. {Hey I don't write the stupidity
 GRUBB> that is the US copyright laws I just explain them.}
 GRUBB> (With laws like this no wonder everybody is suit happy.)

	Nice try, but no cigar.  There is a world of difference between
a suit slaiming that a company used your work without compensating you,
and being paid by a company for your work (thereby transferring your
copyright to the company), and years later claiming that you weren't
compensated sufficiently.  The real parallel would be if the people who
Bill Gates bought DOS-88 from were to come back and demand that he pay
them royalties on the empire he's built starting from their work.
-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------
Sten Drescher                  | There are men who seem like more than men.
2709 13th St #1248             | Living examples of what we could be if we
Brooks AFB, TX 78235-5224      | tried.  They are men of courage, compassion,
-------------------------------+ and justice.  On the other hand, there are
sdrescher@animal.brooks.af.mil | presidential candidates.
-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------
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