Just Another Reason Why Copyrights are BS

POSTED BY: 6ixStringJack
UPDATED: Sunday, March 29, 2026 18:31
VIEWED: 3303
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GEEZER

Sunday, May 27, 2007 9:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
This again is a PERFECT example of why I call you out when the words "Free Market" leave your mouth Geeze, because you don't really believe in it.

Most people consider "free market" to be your freedon to sell what you create at whatever price the market will pay. If your concept of "free market" is one in which you are free to steal someone else's work and sell it as your own, Yep, I'm against that.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

SIGNYM

Sunday, May 27, 2007 10:52 PM

Yeah but Geezer, don't the creators of the magic wand concept ALSO deserve some return for their work?

---------------------------------
Always look upstream.

GEEZER

Sunday, May 27, 2007 11:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Yeah but Geezer, don't the creators of the magic wand concept ALSO deserve some return for their work?

As you noted, magic wands are in the public domain. Their copyright (if there ever was one) has expired. At some point, Ms. Rowling's copyright will also expire, and Harry Potter, Hogwarts, and Quiddich will also be fair game for everyone.

But aside, from your attempt at misdirection...

Consider that every word exists somewhere in a dictionary. So every book anyone could write already exists, in potential. But it's the order of those words, and their combinations with other words, which a writer uses to create a unique story. It's the story, not the individual words within it, that is the writer's creation, and property.

A bundle of lumber can become a Sam Maloof chair, but not until Mr. Maloof uses his skills to create it. Should the chair then be available for anyone to take? Should someone with lesser skill be able to make a chair and call it a Sam Maloof chair?

"Keep the Shiny side up"

6IXSTRINGJACK

Thursday, May 31, 2007 10:35 AM

Naflm - Thanks for correcting me. I did overstate the case.

Signym & Frem (As usual) - Thanks for your words here. It's refreshing and reaffirming every time I hear other people come out and speak against these practices when so many people seem to buy the bullshit.

Geezer -

Quote:
Copyright is there to provide protection for an artist, but just like a seatbelt, if you don't use it right it does no good. Copyright is not there to protect you from yourself. It's tough that the fellow signed away his conceptual right to the black Spidey suit, but if nothing on film had ever come of it, he'd be up the $220.00 and have a nice story to tell.

There's the rub my friend. In this case, the copyright isn't doing anything to protect the artist, which is always the defence of copyrights that the RIAA, MPAA, movie & recording studios always use, and the one that garners the most support from the consumers of their products. They are the ones making all of the money off of the products at the artist's expense. Not only is this an example of how the copyrights failed the artist, but it is also an example of how the big companies exploit the artist and the consumer for years (and possibly forever) with the copyrights.

Perhaps I should have worded this better, because even I don't believe that there shouldn't be any copyrights. I just believe that they no longer serve their original intent, protecting the artist, and today they only serve the people with money who buy up all of the "intellectual property". Sure, you can throw out names like JK Rowling all you'd like, but for every Rowling, there's 100 Chrissie Hyndes.... not to mention dead TV shows like Firefly which was so abused by the copyright holders, it should be an outrage to all Browncoats alike.

Look at the medicinal field. Why are formulas to drugs only protected for the creators for 7 years, whereas Universal and Fox are going to own Firefly forever? In my mind it's because other large companies can make their identical versions and sell them on the cheap, putting the creators out of business and making there existance all that much larger and significant. The large companies bend the rules as they see fit and are perfectly equipped to do so because they have all the money in the world to hire teams of no-good scumsucking lawyers.

So Geezer, can we at least agree that the copyright system today is more than a little flawed and could use a complete overhaul so it can resume the once benevolent job that it was created to do?

SIGMANUKI - Again, you miss the point completely, and you're strikingly rude about it as well. I have to say that of all of fff.net, you are by far the most argumentative and just plain rude of any poster I've ever come across, with the possible exception of Kaneman who at least has the decency to make people laugh when he's being an ass. I won't even legitimize your argument with any counter points because to do so would be an exercise in futility, and I won't lower myself to converse with people such as you. And just becasuse you say something isn't true, doesn't mean that it isn't true. Go back to the Forsakeny threads where you belong.

If you have any points you'd like to discuss, and you care to do it without being insulting, I may reconsider my stand on having a debate with you.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." http://www.myspace.com/6ixstringjack

SIMONWHO

Thursday, May 31, 2007 12:44 PM

Spiderman wearing a slightly different outfit is a pretty small idea - it's not as though he came up with the concept of Venom or Spiderman or indeed anything really crucial to the movie. $220 20 years ago sounds a pretty good deal.

However I agree that copyright law sucks.

JAYNEZTOWN

Friday, July 4, 2025 11:16 PM

you buy an artistic entertainment product and suddenly you are not allowed play it anymore?

'Stop Killing Games has reached its 1 million signatures target'
https://communities.win/c/Gaming/p/19BZl2DV2Y/stop-killing-games-has-r
eached-i/c

as for the original thread discussion?

Quote:
Randy Schueller had a million-dollar idea - and he got paid $220 for it.
Actually, his idea was worth closer to $700 million - about the amount "Spider-Man 3" has raked in so far worldwide.
Even fans of Spidey comics have never heard of Schueller. But his story stretches back 25 years and contributes mightily to the web-slinger's new film.
Back in 1982, Schueller was a 22-year-old comic-book fan living in Chicago. Marvel, the publisher of "Spider-Man," asked readers to send in ideas for the hero, and Schueller jumped at the chance. He spent two weeks crafting a story in which Spidey dons a new costume.
A black costume. Like in a certain movie currently in theaters.
"It occurred to me that Spider-Man is this character that creeps around in the shadows looking for bad guys, so why is he wearing this bright red and blue costume?" Schueller says.
"It seemed like he should have more of a stealth mode."
He mailed the pitch to Marvel, and a few months later, he got a letter from then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter telling Schueller he liked his idea and wanted to buy it for $220. Shooter also offered to let the novice write the story.
"The money was incidental. It was cool at the time, but really, it was the possibility of working on the character that I had loved my whole life," Schueller says.
He was set up with Spidey editor Tom DeFalco, and the two worked on the story. "We went back and forth [with revisions]. It got to the point where I don't know exactly what happened. They eventually stopped returning my calls, and I stopped sending stuff in," Schueller says.
"Yes, a fan did send in the idea," confirms DeFalco. "Marvel bought the idea. We went out and tried to turn the idea into an actual story, but for assorted reasons, it just didn't work out."
Schueller soon gave up any aspirations of comic writing. Today, he's 47 and a chemist at a beauty-products company in Chicago. (He credits his love of science to Peter Parker.)
But his idea never died.
Two years later, Marvel was working on a series called "Secret Wars," in which many of its heroes underwent changes. "So we were trying to figure out what to do with Spider-Man, and Shooter said, 'Hey, remember the story that guy sent in where Spider-Man got a new costume?' " DeFalco says.

the "Symbiote" costume
https://web.archive.org/web/20151104171743/http://goodcomics.comicbook
resources.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/Spidey_005.JPG

and now

Marvel Studios Confirms AVENGERS: SECRET WARS Will End the Multiverse Saga
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/marvel-studios-confirms-a
vengers-secret-165736115.html

JAYNEZTOWN

Friday, October 24, 2025 5:06 PM

Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on Human Creativity
https://www.alltechnerd.com/artificial-intelligence-and-its-impact-on-
human-creativity/

JAYNEZTOWN

Sunday, March 29, 2026 6:31 PM

We're All Copyright Owners. Welcome to the Mess That AI Has Created
https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/understanding-ai-copyr
ight-fair-use-legal-explainer/

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