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The US government is not allowed to copyright anything, and is surely a funder of many of these works. Contractors for the US government should similarly not b
by tomohawk 9y ago
The US government is not allowed to copyright anything, and is surely a funder of many of these works. Contractors for the US government should similarly not be able to copyright work done under contract. What would happen to these copyright arguments if this became the case?
- dawnerd 9y agoI tend to agree with you. Universities/Colleges that receive public money also should be able to copyright or patent findings. If public money funds it, it should be public domain.
- lordnacho 9y agoWhat about some authority like a professor who writes a book about his subject? Suppose the guy's been paid or heavily subsidised through his career. Seems a bit unobvious to me. On the one hand, the guy's gotta bother to sit and write a book. OTOH, his book would be worthless if he didn't have the skills paid for by other people. I guess what's normal is that we disregard how his expertise was funded and just let him keep whatever he makes. After all, he doesn't have to write a textbook.
- delinka 9y agoThe difference is writing as part of one's career (at the direction of supervisors) and writing at one's own discretion. If your school says "yo, prof! Write a book on $subject," then it's a work-for-hire and, if public money is involved, should be public domain. If the professor takes it upon himself to write a book, presumably on hus own time, he then holds the copyright.
- dawnerd 9y agoNo different than programmers not owning the rights to what they develop while at work.