[ZeroGravitas]

I've just been reading "Against Intellectual Monopoly" and it's interesting how things change when you mentally substitute "protecting my copyright" with "exercising my monopoly". It completely changes the dynamic of who is acting and who is reacting.

[gee_totes]

While those terms are interchangeable, I don't think they are equivalent. The OP doesn't have a monopoly over the Houston skyline, and anyone is welcome to set up a camera in the same spot and take an identical photo and use it for their website.

Is this the link to the book mentioned? http://www.dklevine.com/general/intellectual/against.htm

[ZeroGravitas]

He's not got a monopoly on all pictures like that but he has a monopoly right on that particular image he took, lasting for 70 years beyond the date of his death, or else he wouldn't be able to send out DMCA takedowns for it and otherwise control the manner in which it is duplicated and used.

(I just googled to check the length and found this heartbreaking message on one of those cheesy Q&A sites: My grandmother has a senior picture of my mom from 1969 and I wanted a copy of it. Is the copyright for that picture up? If not is there a way for me to get a copy of it?)

And that is the book, though note it's a slightly out of date version. The final version is here:

http://www.dklevine.com/general/intellectual/againstfinal.ht...

It's not a great work by any means, but it's a good overview of the craziness of copyrights and patents when viewed from the perpective of economics.

[cma]

Not true everywhere:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/01/25/Imitated_Image_Copyr...