[pp.int.general] copyright vs. "droit d'auteur"

[Carlos Ayala Vargas]

Reinier Bakels wrote:
> The (true) authors imho deserve support for their immaterial 
> (non-economic) rights. Including against the rights owners
Interesting statement. I mean, it's true at least for one thing: 
surprisingly, author's are most times not the rightholders. And if 
talking about France, Spain and such countries, for RMOs members, even 
not the moral rightholders.

What about reinstating authors as author's rights holders? Instead of 
labels, instead of RMOs ...
> Copyright is often used *against*  the actual authors.
Furthermore, I think that the /c word/ is used mostly against most 
authors -I wouldn't say /actual/, as /the 1.000/ are also authors ... 
though just 1.000, a tiny, tiny part of the whole (and however the only 
one which is listened to by traditional politicians in Spain)-.
> I am also involved in the software patents struggle, and the opponents 
> of software patents often use very weak and questionable human rights 
> arguments.
Then encourage them to use strong and almost unquestionable human rights 
arguments.
> Well, some of you may say: "Then try harder". But is it helpful to try 
> harder if you are in a dead-end street?
Actually, you are assuming that would be a dead-end street, and I then 
disagree: as long as human rights are essential, I firmly believe that 
defending what is essential for us (not the human rights itself from 
being removed, but also from suffering twisted interpretations like the 
Franco Frattini's one that you mentioned) can never be a dead-end 
street. The street is open, maybe some people simply have not enough 
energy to turn the corner ... nobody said it was going to be easy to 
face the pro-copyright lobbies.
> Isn't it strange to forward legal arguments that are *never forwarded 
> by lawyers*, not even strong critics (who do exist!)
Maybe don't you consider as a lawyer anyone who appeals to human rights 
as an argument? :-O

- David Bravo, famous Spanish lawyer specialized in author's rights: 
"/that which is at the top currently is the *Sarkozy law*, that which 
would allow to disconnect users who share protected works and which, 
*once upon a time, was considered by the European Parliament as against 
human rights and civil liberties*. However, politicians, who use to sign 
with their hands what they erase with their elbow, have buried and 
forgotten those adjectives, as tough as accurate/" (talking about 
Sarkozy's three-strikes as being against human rights)
http://ecodiario.eleconomista.es/encuentro-digital/David-Bravo-2008-12-18

- Carlos Sanchez Almeida, Spanish lawyer specialized in author's rights: 
"*/the author's rights are not property anymore, they are not property 
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights nor in the Spanish 
Constitution/* [...] /If we read the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, the Social Rights part, *we'll find there one article which is 
the article 27*, where first it mentions the right to enjoy cultural 
works and in the other hand mentions author's rights; both are two 
closely related rights, actually acting as scales, they really have to 
be fully balanced/" (explicit appeal to UDHR's article 27, and to the 
fact that it doesn't talk about the /c word/ nor about the /intellectual 
pro...whatever/)
http://piezas.bandaancha.st/docs/cultura_como_derecho_colectivo.html

- Javier de la Cueva, famous Spanish lawyer specialized in author's 
rights: "/the State can pass the law and they will have a margin of some 
years until the Constitutional Court can find it unconstitutional, *as 
happened with Bush and Guantanamo* and as happened here with the own 
Corcuera Law/" (parallel between Guantanamo and the Olivennes Agreement ...)
http://www.rtve.es/noticias/20080618/javier-cueva-implantaran-ley-espana-sin-ninguna-duda/93830.shtml

Always making such absolute statements without first being sure of their 
accuracy ... unless you discredit their degrees, they are actually 
lawyers and they actually use human rights in their arguments. While I 
don't always agree with their statements, I actually respect them quite 
much, they are lawyers who won lots of cases -some of them very 
important, even creating case law- and some of my thoughts I have to 
acknowledge that are inspired by them. Again: *you don't know all 
lawyers, so you are not able to absolutely state than prestigious 
lawyers never forward human rights arguments*.


                                                                                                    
Carlos Ayala
                                                                                                     
( Aiarakoa )

                                                                             
Partido Pirata National Board's Chairman