Re: What's Valuable

Reed M Wiedower ([email protected])
Sat, 2 Dec 1995 11:40:18 -0500 (EST)

How can we say what is and is not copyrightable based on the time it
takes to make it? If one were to (using the architectural analogy again)
copy one of Frank Lloyd Wright's plans, it would be obvious that you were
merely using someone else's plans...and there can be simple "hidden"
lines inserted into the VRML code to make sure one's name will not be
lost. Unless a dedicated programmer searched every line to find these
copyright notices, they would remain undetecable except by the original
programmer. In this way disputes over cesation could be settled, and
there would be no need for either collection of tithes or complicated
copyright laws. In the end, as (I believe) there will be some server
containing a massive VRML file with hotlinks to other VRML files, it
really doesn't matter who "owns" what. Companies that invest serious
dough into pet projects like VRML, that at the moment don't have an
investment return, shouldn't be surprised that other people want what
they have done. I am confused: are there companies that actually pay
people to model historical landmarks in VRML? This is stupid. We should
concentrate on saving these historical relics in REALITY not in some
meta-verse.... A million copies of a virtual "Winchester Cathedral" can
not compare to the actual experience, and this should serve as a (no pun
intended) reality check.

End of Line,

R. Wiedower

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