> -----Original Message----- > From: Ramakrishnan Kazhiyur-Mannar [mailto:kazhiyur-mannar.1@xxxx] > Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 10:11 AM > To: SriRangaSri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [SriRangaSri] Re: Cassette collections > > While I do not intend to question the spirit in what Sri. Rajagopalan is > saying here, I do not understand what copyright violation might > occur here. > Copyrights are for protecting the intellectual property. Nobody can claim > Prabhandham or Sahasranamam to be their intellectual property (except of > course the azhwars and Bheeshma :) ). Sri Ramakrishnan: What's involved here is NOT the intellectual property of ancient personages, but the LEGAL RIGHTS of modern-day publishers. Duplicating portions of printed books without their publishers' consent is copyright infringement, and is punishable by law in most countries. Whether one follows copyright law down to the letter or not, whether one is caught violating it or not, and whether such violators are punished or not - is a discussion beyond the scope of this electronic group. But the point is simple - if you think there are no bounds to duplicate the intellectual properties of rishis/azhwars, then please go ahead and either hand-write or type them out yourself, and only duplicate your own reproductions. Any other means, such as photocopying pages out of published books - is illegal. > While I concede that LIFCO and other publishers are doing a > commendable job > in bringing these literature to us, I do not understand how photocopying > material could be wrong. After all, the cost that these books > entail are for > recovering the cost of the material (and some profit margin). If > we are going > to spend our material, why should we take their permission? Perhaps we should accept software piracy also as legal, since the violators do after all, use their own material (floppy disk, compact disk, etc.)!! You misunderstand the purpose behind copyright. It exists NOT to provide for the cost of material, but to protect the rights of the publisher as the only one authorized to distribute, reproduce and sell that printed material for business. Copyright infrigement in such contexts not only harms the business interests of publishers (like LIFCO), but sends a wrong message to the numerous people who accept, use and reuse the duplicated material - that a double standard is o.k. where Hindu religious books/media are concerned. Not to mention the fact that everyone - recipients and duplicators alike, are in violation of copyright law!! > Besides, some of the audio material we are talking abt are > lectures that were > not intended to be marketed and but for such reproduction, might get lost > forever. The proper way to go about this (even though one may have the best of intentions) is to obtain written rights to the production and distribution of these materials. This can (and must) be done through legal documents, for after all - ignorance of the law is never an excuse! Truly -Srinath C.
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