On Wed, 7 Apr 2021 at 10:42, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:

| I'm not sure that Brendan Behan would object to the Toronto Irish Players
| copying the script of Borstal Boy to introduce it to the citizens of
| Toronto, but I might be wrong about that as well.

Since he is dead, you can be sure that he wouldn't object. (His body is probably well-preserved due to its alcohol content.)

Since copyright terms exist for many years after the creator's death, that fact is far less relevant than one might think.

Marvin Gaye may well have been fine with the song "Blurred Lines" copying the style of "Got to Give it Up" (no melody or lyrics were copied, just the style). But his heirs were not, and successfully sued for infringement.

Being a Borstal boy, he probably wasn't particularly concerned with laws.

More generally: a certain amount of copyright leakage is actually good for the creator. Microsoft dominates in the third world due to piracy. If copyright were enforced, Linux would dominate.

I can vouch for that particular comment based on first-hand experience. Over the last while, MS has even been making it easier for savvy users to legally(*) use its wares for a fraction of published prices. One such policy is enabling licenses for retail (not OEM) Windows 10 to be fully transferable, enabling niche services that extract license keys from trashed PCs and resell them for less than $3. (I can verify that it works.) And then there's the "Home and Student" version of MS Office that of course will never be used for small businesses or WFH.

- Evan

(*) The legalities have never been confirmed or denied and likely never will, because there are no instances of MS pursuing perceived abuse in these cases. At worst they're a contravention of T&C rather than piracy, contract issues rather than copyright infringement.