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posted by martyb on Monday July 02 2018, @12:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the life-after-death dept.

Two lawyers are still fighting to keep Buck Rogers from entering the public domain, something which should have begun 70 years after the author's death. Philip Nowlan, the stories' author, died in 1940 and so his works should have joined the public domain starting 2010. Part of the strategy from the copyright trolls has been to drag out the process with multiple lawsuits.

Back in October 2015 we brought you the story of the Buck Rogers Copyright Trolls, two lawyers who were fighting to keep Buck Rogers from entering the public domain using the discredited Sherlock Holmes system of licensing. Two and a half years later, Louise Geer and Dan Herman are still at it, using every trick in the book to keep a beloved tale out of the public domain, where it firmly belongs. Along the way the pair have stiffed multiple law firms, and currently are abusing a Bankruptcy Court in Pennsylvania in a Hail Mary effort to...well, it's not exactly clear what they're trying to do.

From Boing Boing : The continuing saga of Buck Rogers and the Copyright Trolls


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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday July 02 2018, @10:53PM (7 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 02 2018, @10:53PM (#701616) Journal

    Try "Fifth Column" by Heinlein. Or "The Mightiest Machine" by John W. Campbell. (There are others, but those two are my favorites. I find the racism annoying, but can ignore it for the sake of the story.)

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  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday July 03 2018, @03:49AM (6 children)

    by Arik (4543) on Tuesday July 03 2018, @03:49AM (#701719) Journal
    The racism is an integral part of the story, I'm not sure how you can ignore it for the sake of the story.
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    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday July 03 2018, @05:32PM (5 children)

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 03 2018, @05:32PM (#702054) Journal

      Perhaps ignore is the wrong word, but I can't think of a better one. And to what extent it's "an integral part of the story" is debatable. In Heinlein's "Fifth Column" is *was* an integral part of the story. In the Nolan books it's a shorthand way of talking about "nationalism", and you can easily ignore the racism. But even in "Fifth Column" it was easy to just say "OK, but things aren't that way really" and go on. Have you ever read any good translations from a foreign language? There are always cultural things involved that are either distasteful or unpleasant. You think about them a little, and then ignore them. You don't need to accept them to enjoy the story. (Others, of course, can cause you to question your own prejudices.)

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      • (Score: 1) by Arik on Tuesday July 03 2018, @09:20PM (4 children)

        by Arik (4543) on Tuesday July 03 2018, @09:20PM (#702184) Journal
        I believe you're thinking of 'Sixth Column' by the way, that's what I was talking about.

        "But things aren't that way really" - well things are very much like that actually, at least I thought it portrayed racial prejudice quite realistically, but maybe that's not what you meant.

        --
        If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
        • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday July 03 2018, @11:17PM (3 children)

          by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 03 2018, @11:17PM (#702226) Journal

          You're right, it was "Sixth Column".

          OK, if you read it as a portrayal of racial prejudice, then I can accept it as accurate. If you portrayal of the actual difference between groups of people, it's false, but acceptable for the sake of the story. I can also accept various FTL devices, including that of "The Skylark of Space", even though "things aren't that way". Did you ever read "The Iron Dream" by Norman Spinrad? An excellent story with totally implausible portrayal. (I'm basically ignoring here the frame within which this is a fictional portrayal of a fiction.)

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          • (Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday July 04 2018, @01:15AM (2 children)

            by Arik (4543) on Wednesday July 04 2018, @01:15AM (#702285) Journal
            The thing is, actual differences between groups of people do develop in symbiosis with prejudice, so again I'm not sure how you can separate them. It's admittedly been a very long time since I read "Sixth Column" and perhaps I'm not remembering the same bit you're thinking of, but I recall reading it as the thoughts of the characters in the novel, as their voice. This was what they believed, and you could see why they believed it, and how it affected their actions.

            Never read the Iron Dream sorry. A glance at the wikipedia article and it sounds like it might be interesting - or just horrible, depending on how it's written.

            --
            If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
            • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday July 04 2018, @06:08PM (1 child)

              by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 04 2018, @06:08PM (#702656) Journal

              In "Sixth Column" the expressions were racial, but the actual conflict was nationalist based. This was made clear by having one of the secondary heroic roles played by a native-born oriental.

              There are many times cultural differences that don't lead to prejudice. There seems to be a sort of threshold effect for most people, were exotic foreign ideas or people are accepted as "exotic" without instigating prejudice. The prejudice only arises when a degree of economic conflict appears. Others, of course, have a threshold so low it's hard to measure.

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              • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Wednesday July 04 2018, @06:40PM

                by Arik (4543) on Wednesday July 04 2018, @06:40PM (#702671) Journal
                "In "Sixth Column" the expressions were racial, but the actual conflict was nationalist based."

                And they fit well together, in the real world if not necessarily always in theory, for the simple reason that nationalism historically is a deeply racist ideology, in origin and usually in practice.

                "There are many times cultural differences that don't lead to prejudice. There seems to be a sort of threshold effect for most people, were exotic foreign ideas or people are accepted as "exotic" without instigating prejudice. The prejudice only arises when a degree of economic conflict appears. Others, of course, have a threshold so low it's hard to measure."

                I think there are a couple of different things going on.

                First there is a natural continuum from neophile to neophobe, from xenophile to xenophobe. And where a population sits on that scale is very important, in an evolutionary sense. Moving to the phobic side reduces the risk of certain catastrophic events, such as spread of diseases for example. But moving to the other side gives great benefits, allowing expanded cooperation and mutually beneficial trade activities. From an evolutionary point of view, it's not a matter of picking one, but of finding an ideal balance (and tuning it in response to events as well - if you know there's a plague spreading you naturally become more phobic in response.)

                Also, regardless of psychological orientation, if something seems to interfere with your ability to make a living, pay the bills, feed the kids etc. then it will start to bother you as well. So that's your 'economic conflict' affect - they're related but I do see that as separate. Even a xenophile can develop resentments over such things.
                --
                If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?