In the copyright equivalent of mummies rising from the dead, Hugo heir plans to make life miserable for the ‘moneymaking’ author of sequel reports the attempt for the heirs of Victor Hugo to “ban a contemporary sequel to Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables for betraying the spirit of the 19th century classic.” Even though Les Misérables is in the public domain, Hugo’s great-great-grandson, Pierre Hugo, seeks to enforce dead Victor’s “moral rights” in the work. For goodness’ sake. Yet another example of how intellectual property rights allow partial enslavement–one person can veto what another may do with his own body and property (explained here, pp. 25, 42, 44, et pass.). I guess this is Disney’s back-up plan once Mickey Mouse cartoons someday come into the public domain (luckily, moral rights are more in vogue in France than in America).
Source link: http://blog.mises.org/6202/victo-hugo-and-intellectual-property/
Victo Hugo and Intellectual Property
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Does not Rothbard supported the idea of perpetual copyright and ownership of property and intellectual work? By having that concept built into the legal framework, the needs for companies like Disney to bribe the Congress will be gone.
I agreed, the ownership of property and intellectual work does not extend to denying another person the creativity to rework the originality without claiming the ownership of the original work.
I bet there will be more new lawyers to make “suing for moral right.”
good man!
Charles, the problem with that is that Rothbard is wrong.
Intellectual property is a government grant of monopoly privilege, and it should not exist. And as Kinsella so effectively points out, it is partial enslavement: a claim against the liberty of other human beings.
I own paper. God gave me the right to put whatever I want on that paper, but man takes away my rights to put many things on it. Likewise with my computer disks, CDs, etc. And now apparently I have to be careful how I hold my hands.
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