Slashdot Mirror
Copyright Battle Over Nothing
An Anonymous Coward writes: "In this story reported at The Independent is "one of the more curious copyright disputes of modern times." It appears that the key question is "which part of the silence was stolen." If only this was April First. This is a lawsuit suing over the sound of nothing, no sound, silence, nada, zilch, bupkiss.
Now I can be in trouble too... "............"
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
If a tree falls in the forest..... is it liable for infringement?
"A good friend will bail you out of jail. A true friend will be sitting next to you saying, 'damn....that was fun!'"
and it was the best one on the CD.
Isn't that always the way with cover songs?
I hereby copyright the sound of a tree falling in the middle of a forest when no one is around to hear it. This is in addition to my copyright on the sound of one hand clapping. These copyrights shall be persued by the fullest extent of the law.
Ok...
...
Done? Ok suckers, that will be $1000 per person for infringing upon the silence copyright made payable to FU Attorneys At Law. Pay up or else!!
How can the absence of something be called a copyright violation? Unless you're looking at the quantum superstate of blank media (which would mean that anything that can exist on blank media would exist on it until it was observed), which would further enrage the RIAA and push them to sue people who produce blank media.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
void main()
{
short silence[60*44100];
memset(silence, 0, sizeof(silence));
FILE * out = fopen("silence.pcm", "w");
fwrite(silence, sizeof(short), 60*44100, out);
fclose(out);
}
Music piracy at its worst, I tell ya.
As long as people are throwing out one-liners:
"You don't have the right to remain silent. Anything you don't say will be used against you in a court of law..."
What gets me is that these people can actually claim fans. If you go to a concert, do they sit quietly onstage miming shushing to the audience?
I have been pwned because my
© gvonk, 2002, all rights reserved, etc.
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
Where are the mp3 versions of the 2 tracks in question? Perhaps then we can judge who's in the wrong here more acurately.
The song (both versions) is one of my favorites. It's so catchy. I've had it stuck in my head whenever I didn't have another song stuck in my head... ;-)
Wrong.
Silence isn't nothing, at least not on a CD. The infringing track is sixty seconds of silence, which is not sixty seconds of zeros. (Which would still be something, mind you.) In any case, the track in the suit is 5,292,000 '0111111111111111's on the CD. (60 seconds, 44100 samples per second, 2 channels, at "zero", but recall digital audio is signed so that's 2^15-1 = 32767.)
Even if one of the two decided to use 32768 instead, the prosecution could argue there was a DC bias...
I hereby copyright the sound of a tree falling in the middle of a forest when no one is around to hear it.
Dear AmigaAvenger:
I produced this before you did. Unfortunately I have to witnesses for obvious reasons, but I have a recording--which, by the way, and not obvious to the casual listener, is NOT a copy of John Cage's 4'33" or any track from Mike Batt's album. You are hereby requested to turn over all rights licence fees to me and cease and desist any new licensing of said work and claims to rights of said work.
As a former employee of Pat Obriens in the French Quarter in New Orleans I can let you in on a little known fact.
They have the phrase "Have Fun!" copyrighted. So I guess you cant say it or have fun without dire results.
If you check their web-page out, look at the very bottome and you can read it in the blurb there.
http://www.patobriens.com/havefun.html
Just thought of something, if we slashdot their box, it is almost the equivalent of what their booz has been doing to people for years.
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
No wonder I never understood the piece...I listen to it using a pair of those noise canceling headphones...
It seems like the new FreeBSD Logo is violating a copyright also.
Table-ized A.I.
Ah... but at what frequency will you be generating this zero-amplitude silence? My patent is pending on `0 * sin (2 * pi * 256)' (middle C) so watch out.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
What about my "Best of Marcel Marceau" LP, copyright 1955?
Hey, all you canucks out there - no need to pay blank media taxes on cd-rs... they're not blank. they're simply recordings of a cover of 4'33" :-)
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
But, but, but ...
I've patented the concepts of making silence through (1) not making any noise, (2) failing to record said noise, and (3) a catch-all that covers anything that might not be covered by the first two.
I asked my lawyer if I had missed anything, and when he paused for a second, I had him arrested for violating my patent. Maybe that was a bad idea?
For every post, there is an equal and opposite re-post.
NASA and their team of astronauts are being sued for contributary copyright infringement; In space, no one can hear you scream.
Now what am I supposed to do during the marketing presentation when I am usually SSS (Skeptically Sitting Silently).....
Oh wait this is Slashdot, no one will get that.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Former US President Richard Nixon can claim prior art on this. He recorded 18 and a half minutes of silence back in the 70s.
you have the right to remain silent, just not the copyright to remain silent. Anything you don't say may be used in a DMCA case against you.
Double Hmmm... "We have ways of making you talk". It may be decision time: testify against yourself, or face the rats nest that is a copyright/DMCA case against you. Either way you're screwed.
:)
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
The sound of one hand clapping is being smacked in the face.
That means that when we aren't making noise we're violating the DMCA !
La la la la la la shok shok la la
"For the words of the profits
are written on the studio walls,
and concert halls,
echo with the sounds of salesmen."
- from "The Spirit of Radio" by Rush, 1980
(this is not a
"Nathaniel, I've just received a subpeona!"
"Oh, jolly good, Robert! I was hoping most fervently that you'd receive it today!"
"Why, yes, I have! I must compliment you on your undulled wit, old chap! A lawsuit! What a hoot!"
"You're too kind!"
Coderz 4 Life
Looks like we have to re-think that "You have the right to remain silent" thing...
I wasn't going to enter a response to this article, but I was afraid of receiving a cease and desist order if I remained silent.
Think of all the prior art for silence sitting on the shelves of your local music store in the form of blank audio casettes!