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There seems to be confusion. :) Or disagreement anyway, about how comparable photocopiers & copyright are to generative models and protection from unauthorized
by Nevermark 3y ago
There seems to be confusion. :)
Or disagreement anyway, about how comparable photocopiers & copyright are to generative models and protection from unauthorized automated style reproduction.
How I look at it:
1. In both cases, reproduced copies or reproduced styles, automation destroys economic incentives for creators to make any sustained effort.
Without economic protection, it isn’t even a question of less motivation. Creator’s like everyone else need to eat.
2. So we protect creative works from complete copies in order to have more creative works.
And it is primarily about automation and mass reproduction.
Nobody is worried about people hand copying Atlas Shrugged.
3. But we also protect copyrighted works from partial copying.
Only copying chapters 1-3? Not allowed
Only copying the plot but changing all the names, locations, fashion and colors? Not allowed.
4. So now it turns out a different substantial part of a work can be copied via automation. It’s style.
Well if you can protect a works plot from automated copies, why not a works style?
It is a substantial piece of a creative work.
Reasons for protecting style come down to protecting any major part of a copyrighted work.
The only thing different now is we have “style reproducers”.
So we have to decide, is this essentially the same situation as copyright addresses, or not?
5. It is.
The exact same trade offs between protection and incentivization exist for extracted & mass reproduced style as they do for extracted and reproduced plot.
- ghaff 3y agoOne is that basic plots are copied all the time and there’s a meme that there are only seven basic plots. Of course there’s much more variety at the detail level. Was Sword of Shannara pretty derivative of Tolkien? Yeah. But I assume it was pretty far from a copyright violation.
- Nevermark 3y agoSo 7 basic plots. But an actual plot for an original story isn’t just a basic plot is it? It’s an original work. Movies are sued all the time for copyright infringement due to substantially copying plot and character elements. [0] Because these cases tend to each be unique, the line between infringement and non-infringement gets settled very much on a case by case basis. As a result of this inherent unpredictability, most cases involve the accused settling with the aggrieved party to get the lawsuit dismissed. This is common in many areas of civil law. A few examples: 1. *"The Island" (2005)* - Accusation: Similarities to the 1979 film "Parts: The Clonus Horror." - Outcome: Settled out of court. [1] 2. *"Frozen" (2013)* - Accusation: Claimed similarities to a short film named "The Snowman." - Outcome: Disney settled the case. [2] 3. *"Coming to America" (1988)* - Accusation: Art Buchwald claimed the movie was based on his script. - Outcome: Paramount settled for an undisclosed amount. [3] 4. *"The Terminator" (1984)* - Accusation: Harlan Ellison claimed it was similar to an episode of "The Outer Limits." - Outcome: Settled out of court, and an acknowledgment was added to later copies. [4] 5. *"Disturbia" (2007)* - Accusation: Accused of being similar to Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window." - Outcome: Initially dismissed, but a settlement was reached. [5] [0] https://movieweb.com/movies-accused-of-copyright-infringement/ https://movieweb.com/movies-accused-of-copyright-infringemen... [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parts:_The_Clonus_Horror https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parts:_The_Clonus_Horror [2] https://ew.com/article/2015/06/25/disney-frozen-lawsuit-the-snowman-settlement/ https://ew.com/article/2015/06/25/disney-frozen-lawsuit-the-... [3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchwald_v._Paramount https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchwald_v._Paramount [4] https://www.cbr.com/terminator-harlan-ellison-credit/ https://www.cbr.com/terminator-harlan-ellison-credit/ [5] https://www.flixist.com/new-disturbia-and-rear-window-lawsuit-over-settlement-breach/ https://www.flixist.com/new-disturbia-and-rear-window-lawsui...
- gremlinsinc 3y agoHow many books written have taken some style or concepts from other books? Stranger things takes liberally from a lot of Stephen King as Spielberg elements not outright but in spirit and tone, why isn't Stephen King suing the Duffer brothers for reading his shit and coming up with ideas for books based on that?
- lostmsu 3y agoWait, plots are protected? I don't believe so.
- Nevermark 3y agoCopyright infringement cases over copying character and plot elements are extremely common. See my reply to a sibling comment of yours.