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Forty three years after Stairway and they can still sue over it? I am so glad that LZ won but still this is just annoying. I can see a suit over copyright infri

Forty three years after Stairway and they can still sue over it? I am so glad that LZ won but still this is just annoying. I can see a suit over copyright infringement being filed if someone copied the Taurus rift today and made real money, but to be able to sue over events forty plus years ago? Simply because the target has money?

fletchowns 10y ago
It's because the guy died, the people managing the estate are the ones going after LZ now.
- ChuckMcM 10y ago
  And now one wonders who gets to sue the lawyers for bringing this stupid lawsuit in the first place. Pretty much every IP lawyer I've talked to thought the case had no merit, so at the end of the day the estate is that much poorer after paying this legal firm to pursue a case that was (in the folks I've polled) unwinnable. Seems like a case of the law firm trying to get more money out of the estate and denying it to the heirs.
  - kstrauser 10y ago
    Presumably the heirs brought the case, so it's only fitting that it should come out of their pockets.
Joeboy 10y ago
You can sue over basically anything published since 1923, unless it's been deliberately placed in the public domain. Edit: Actually scratch that "deliberately", for a 1923 work I think you'd have to have added a copyright notice and subsequently renewed the copyright to keep it out of the public domain.
dsl 10y ago
Is it ok for me to steal all the code for your last project, as long as I don't make money? What if I was Google and you didn't have the resources to fight a case against a giant right now?
- bbarn 10y ago
  This is more like, I think I'll sue you 40 years later because your code is very close to mine in one method.
Joeboy 10y ago
The forty years and the fact the original writer is dead are good arguments. I'm not so sure about: > Simply because the target has money? To be honest I think they probably borrowed the intro from Spirit (they toured together and musical / lyrical borrowing was standard operating practice for Zep), but it was a very minor part of what made the song successful. However the fact the song has apparently made over half a billion dollars in royalties does rather amplify the significance of that minor borrowing.

fletchowns 10y ago

It's because the guy died, the people managing the estate are the ones going after LZ now.

ChuckMcM 10y ago
And now one wonders who gets to sue the lawyers for bringing this stupid lawsuit in the first place. Pretty much every IP lawyer I've talked to thought the case had no merit, so at the end of the day the estate is that much poorer after paying this legal firm to pursue a case that was (in the folks I've polled) unwinnable. Seems like a case of the law firm trying to get more money out of the estate and denying it to the heirs.
- kstrauser 10y ago
  Presumably the heirs brought the case, so it's only fitting that it should come out of their pockets.

Joeboy 10y ago

You can sue over basically anything published since 1923, unless it's been deliberately placed in the public domain. Edit: Actually scratch that "deliberately", for a 1923 work I think you'd have to have added a copyright notice and subsequently renewed the copyright to keep it out of the public domain.

dsl 10y ago

Is it ok for me to steal all the code for your last project, as long as I don't make money? What if I was Google and you didn't have the resources to fight a case against a giant right now?

bbarn 10y ago
This is more like, I think I'll sue you 40 years later because your code is very close to mine in one method.

Joeboy 10y ago

The forty years and the fact the original writer is dead are good arguments. I'm not so sure about: > Simply because the target has money? To be honest I think they probably borrowed the intro from Spirit (they toured together and musical / lyrical borrowing was standard operating practice for Zep), but it was a very minor part of what made the song successful. However the fact the song has apparently made over half a billion dollars in royalties does rather amplify the significance of that minor borrowing.