E. Zachary Knight 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (1445)

• On the post: Netflix Provides 'Knock-offs' After Contract With Disney Ends

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 15 Aug, 2012 @ 06:19am

  Most of these movies are crap

  My kids watched that Kiara the Brave movie and said it was pretty crap. The movie isn't even about the girl apparently. She is just a side character in the whole thing. The production company just named the movie after here to capitalize on Disney's Brave. Not that it really matters though.
  
  I laughed the first time I saw the cover art.

• On the post: Netflix Provides 'Knock-offs' After Contract With Disney Ends

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 15 Aug, 2012 @ 06:17am

  Re: Dang

  I believe that Netflix is in the business of buying streaming rights for lump sums. Meaning they would buy 3 year streaming rights for the whole Disney library for something like $300million. That sort of thing. Doing it that way is a lot easier to manage than having to deal with auditing individual views for proper billing.

• On the post: Netflix Provides 'Knock-offs' After Contract With Disney Ends

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 15 Aug, 2012 @ 06:15am

  Re:

  Don't forget Disney's foray into animals escaping from the zoo, The Wild.

• On the post: Shelby County Tries To Reveal The Authors Of Nearly 10,000 Anonymous Internet Comments

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 14 Aug, 2012 @ 11:42am

  Re:

  So is this your thing now? Since Mike answered your question, but you didn't like the answer because it didn't mesh with you strawman you built up, you are going to ignore the answer? Fun.

• On the post: Plunging Through Time To Rescue Out Of Print Sci-Fi Books

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 14 Aug, 2012 @ 09:07am

  Re: Copyright Registration

  There was once a time when such a registry did exist. Back before the insane change to grant automatice copyright to everything. Of course then copyright was only for 14 years and the only time you had to update your information was if you chose to renew for another 14 years.
  
  But with today's system of absurd copyright length and automatic copyright status, if something is not owned by a corporation or in constant publication, after 14-30 years, it can be near impossible to track down the copyright owner.

• On the post: Father Of The Video Game Console Showed Off 'Set Top Box' Idea In 1973

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2012 @ 08:14am

  Re:

  Yeah, you're right. I tossed a couple of quotes around the phrase 'set top box'

• On the post: Father Of The Video Game Console Showed Off 'Set Top Box' Idea In 1973

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2012 @ 07:53am

  Re: What about his lawsuits?

  This is what I think:
  
  1) Ralph Baer is an actual inventor. He invents things and then patents them. He does not buy up patents for the sole purpose of suing over them.
  
  2) Ralph Baer does not sue for the purpose killing competing products like Apple does. He invented some very important steps in making home video game consoles and then other companies stepped in and actually copied his ideas. They did not independently invent. They took products that used his patents, reverse engineered them and brought their own products to market without paying him a license.
  
  I hope that helps.

• On the post: Court: Feds Can Spy On Americans Without Warrants With No Legal Repurcussions

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 09 Aug, 2012 @ 02:26pm

  Re: Congress's problem?!?

  Now a days it is the Judiciary's job to be the boot licking lap dogs of Congress. Did you miss the memo?

• On the post: Join Us Thursday For A Conversation With Rob Reid, Author Of Year Zero; Plus August's Book Of The Month

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2012 @ 07:22pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  They could have, yes, but doing so would not have satisfied all contributing members. It is called compromise. Something that you and your ilk are incapable of understanding.

• On the post: Join Us Thursday For A Conversation With Rob Reid, Author Of Year Zero; Plus August's Book Of The Month

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2012 @ 07:21pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  I'm the moron? You are the one that claims that the law allows for permanent abandonment of copyright with no laws or legal precedent backing you up.
  
  I am claiming that the law does not specifically allow for permanent abandonment. Which means that it is still possible, but not legally tested, for a work to be reclaimed under copyright.
  
  And I am the moron. Well, at least I am nice.

• On the post: Join Us Thursday For A Conversation With Rob Reid, Author Of Year Zero; Plus August's Book Of The Month

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2012 @ 12:44pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  You can reject my argument all you want, but the law and legal precedent is on my side.

• On the post: Legit Ebook Lending Site Taken Down By An Angry Twitmob Of Writers [UPDATED]

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2012 @ 10:20am

  Re: Re: Lendink was not a pirate site

  Probably the latter. However, I would give him leeway on this considering his personal issues. He is probably spending a lot of time trying to put out the flames.

• On the post: Join Us Thursday For A Conversation With Rob Reid, Author Of Year Zero; Plus August's Book Of The Month

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2012 @ 10:00am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  It is a very valid concern. Why? Because there are ZERO legal safe guards in copyright law to prevent the reclaiming of copyright. There is also ZERO case law setting a precedent that such a reclamation of copyright cannot happen.
  
  You on the other hand, are completely ignoring that.
  
  So to reiterate:
  
  Yes, you can abandon your copyright to the public domain, but that is only enforceable as long as you are alive. Once you are dead, your estate, that has a valid legal claim to the copyright can reclaim it for the remaining 70 years.

• On the post: Legit Ebook Lending Site Taken Down By An Angry Twitmob Of Writers [UPDATED]

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2012 @ 09:55am

  Re:

  Not sure if that is a legit excuse either. I did a quick look at lendlnk.com (lowercase L) which returned a site not found error. At this point, these idiots are just scrambling for a way to excuse their actions and every single excuse stinks to high heaven.

• On the post: Join Us Thursday For A Conversation With Rob Reid, Author Of Year Zero; Plus August's Book Of The Month

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2012 @ 07:18am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Considering you can barely hold your own against someone you claim is unqualified to discuss copyright, what chance do you really have against Mike?

• On the post: Join Us Thursday For A Conversation With Rob Reid, Author Of Year Zero; Plus August's Book Of The Month

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2012 @ 07:10am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  You are claiming that with no legal backing whatsoever. As has been pointed out, the Golan case and Europe's recent retroactive copyright extensions prove you wrong.
  
  Until we have a legal precedent that states that a work that has been "abandoned" cannot be reclaimed by the would be inheritor of the copyright, then my worries are justified.

• On the post: Join Us Thursday For A Conversation With Rob Reid, Author Of Year Zero; Plus August's Book Of The Month

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2012 @ 08:59pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Funny, that's not what you said above.
  
  But again, you are incorrect. But since such case law has not been made in the US, we can't really say. But in Europe where retroactive copyright extensions have pulled works out of the public domain, we can see that it is possible. Once the work is pulled out of the public domain either through retroactive copyright extensions or reclaiming an abandoned copyright, no future infringement can use the abandoned defense.
  
  It must be mentally draining to be so intentionally misleading.

• On the post: Join Us Thursday For A Conversation With Rob Reid, Author Of Year Zero; Plus August's Book Of The Month

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2012 @ 08:56pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  They could try that with any allegedly abandoned property. If that person then sues someone else for infringement, that defendant would be able to claim abandonment of copyright, which is a complete defense to a claim of copyright infringement.
  
  Again, only if the alleged infringement happened prior to the reclaiming of the copyright. After the copyright is reclaimed, that defense is no longer valid.

• On the post: Internet Archive Enables Over 1,000,000 Torrents Of Books, Music And Movies

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2012 @ 08:54pm

  This actually looks really, really awesome. I can't wait to peruse the site.

• On the post: Join Us Thursday For A Conversation With Rob Reid, Author Of Year Zero; Plus August's Book Of The Month

  

  E. Zachary Knight ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2012 @ 08:46pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Copyright abandonment as a defense against copyright infringement was also included in the PDF I linked. I just didn't note it because I did not feel it pertinent to the discussion above.
  
  Since you brought it up, your citing still does not settle the issue of what happens after someone (say my kids or grandkids) who decide to take the work I "abandoned" and then decide to take back the copyright. Under current copyright, they can do just that. Which means that any infringement that took place after they reclaimed the copyright would not allow for the abandoned defense.
  
  So again, copyright cannot be fully abandoned.

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