From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Tue Jun 18 2002 - 06:37:22 MDT
Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
>
> > (Mike Lorrey <mlorrey@datamann.com>):
> >
> > Ah, but a novel is not a book, it is a story. Before books were
> > invented, novels were memorized and passed on by oral means. There is no
> > legal restriction against you memorizing "The Stand" and going around
> > reciting it to people...
>
> You are mistaken. Copyright law does indeed explicitly make that
> illegal. "Public performance" of a work is one of the exclusive rights
> covered by copyright. I am indeed fobidden by law from putting on a
> production of "West Side Story", even from memory, and despite the fact
> that most of its story is derivative of Romeo & Juliet. I am forbidded
> by law from singing "Happy Birthday" in public without permission from
> the estate of the Smith sisters.
>
> One can argue about whether or not copyright is a good thing, but
> arguments based on ignorance of the law aren't very convincing.
As your statements are, apparently. In fact, you can sing "Happy
Birthday" in public, you just can't use it as a practice of a profit
making venture, like, say, a restaurant presenting a birthday cake to a
customer while being serenaded by the employees singing the song. In the
same situation, it is perfectly legal if all of the clientele in the
restaurant sang Happy Birthday, but the employees and management cannot.
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