More discussion about Copyright

"A creator of a work should be able to decide how their work is consumed and used..." or the extension to that ".... and distributed."

Should they? It is a "Copy Right" not a "Consumer Right" or "Use Right" or "Distribution right".

A creator should not be allowed to determine the way in which his work is consumed or used, but only be assured it will not be copied for commercial profit.

The net result of allowing creators to control how a work is consumed and used is DRM. It is forbidding Transcoding to other reproduction systems and Backup.

It is illogical that one can copy old VHS tapes to DVD, but not copy a DVD to your HDD. It is equally illogical that you can copy your CDs into iTunes but not your DVD-Audio or SACD disks.

Copyright is a law for creators, not a law for consumers. It protects the rights of a creator to the sale of his work, not the way the consumer eventually uses them. Except that the consumer if he makes copies does not retain all those copies himself, he is not permitted to pass copies of the work to others.

Creators can gain the benefits of sales conditions, but not the activities of post sale use.

In this age where digital goods sharing is easy and global, creators have to come to some new conclusions about their works and how they distribute them. You cannot for example justify the release of a film in only USA cinemas and expect the rest of the world to wait for it. You cannot either justify the use of "Regional code" on DVDs which prevent, for example, players in Europe playing an American DVD. Users will and do pirate it and put it on the global internet.

You cannot expect users who buy a legitimate DVD not to copy it to their media theatre system for convenience in viewing (of course they cannot then give the original away... but then why distribute it on DVD in the first place?).

The growing idea that creators do not sell their work, but distribute and cover it with a limited use licence to consume it specific way(s) is a total corruption of the intention of copyright law.

The conditions under which a sale of a CD of DVD must be made more clear on the label. For example "You may play this CD but not copy it to your computer" or " This DVD is protected against copying by DRM, to break that protection is illegal" should be in large type. The contract the purchaser is entering into must be clear when he buys the thing. That will clear up that point - and probably stop creators or distributor taking the law into their own hands too, as many would simply not buy the product.

You could also argue that if a creator does want to put some limits on distribution, he now has a duty himself to maintain that distribution channel for as long as the copyright on it is granted - will your CD be available in Death+70 years?