[pp.int.general] Fwd: <nettime> Richard Stallman: How the Swedish Pirate Party Platform Backfires on Free Software

[Reinier Bakels]

- Please note that software copyright always was controversial among lawyers 
because it does not fit well into the system of copyright law. For practical 
purposes, this debat was ended by the 91/250 directive in Europe. The 
Belgians made the proper solution: they implemented this directive into a 
*separate* act (rather than in exception provisions in the copyright act).
- An important difference between regular copyright and sofwtare copyright 
is that copyright usually only restricts (re)publication, not the use of the 
material, while software copyright does. Incidentally, there is a disk that 
the software copyright regime "infects" regular copyright and introduces a 
use right for books, records etc. as well.
- If software is removed from (mainstream) copyright, it is no longer ubject 
to "Berne". Incidentally, the Americans only acceded to the BC at a late 
stage (1989 iirc). While they complied with the "no formalities" rule, they 
still have (procedural) advantages for authors who do fulfill some 
formalities.
- The problem of GPL etc. licences depending on copyright may be solved by 
strngthening the concepts of moral rights (noon-existant in the US): the 
*exploitation* right may end after five years, but the *moral* rights may 
last forever. Like in France today.
reinier