tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4513524515428334509.post2525211364824165483..comments2024-03-26T10:41:35.852+00:00Comments on The 1709 Blog: Stretching copyright with contractMarie-Andree Weisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17125973798789498436noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4513524515428334509.post-47368473743921749662010-06-18T18:03:49.795+01:002010-06-18T18:03:49.795+01:00Copyright is a suspension of the individual's ...Copyright is a suspension of the individual's natural right to copy (liberty). Only the state has the power to do this (irrespective of any constitutional limit).<br /><br />Being an inalienable right, an individual cannot alienate themselves from their liberty through contract.<br /><br />Contract is not micro-state and micro-legislature between two persons. It is simply an agreement to exchange what can be exchanged. It is not an exchange of power or servitude, a means of mutual bondage to be enforced by the state (though many might like it to be).<br /><br />Similarly, NDAs cannot actually enable an individual to alienate themselves from their freedom of speech - though no doubt some judges believe they can.<br /><br />The problem is that copyright (in being an unethical suspension of a natural right) sets this as a precedent in people's minds and they assume that what can be unethically contrived by law can be unethically contrived by contract.<br /><br />A copyright license conditionally restores some or all of the liberty suspended by copyright, it cannot actually suspend any liberty of its own (whether the licensee agrees or not).Crosbie Fitchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06554471152790988479noreply@blogger.com