Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Sanford & Son In Space?

When we think about what the Earth looks like, most of us conjure up something like this*:


A brilliant blue-green marble, shrouded by clouds, set against the black of space. Sadly, it doesn't really look like that, as there is an increasing amount of junk orbiting the planet. This junk is the debris of fifty years of space exploration, from disabled satellites to jettisoned rocket sections. Aside from aesthetic concerns, all that crap poses a real danger, as this article in the New York Times explains:

For decades, space experts have worried that a speeding bit of orbital debris might one day smash a large spacecraft into hundreds of pieces and start a chain reaction, a slow cascade of collisions that would expand for centuries, spreading chaos through the heavens.
This has taken on new relevance after China's successful demolition of an aged satellite as part of a weapon test a few weeks ago. That event produced at least 800 separate pieces of junk, perhaps as many as 1000. In and of itself, that won't produce the collision that scientists fear, but it makes such an event more likely.

* This image was taken from WP Clipart, a collection of public domain images optimized for use with word processors, but equally applicable to web use. It's worth considering the copyright status of any images you might put up on your blog. After the issue came to a head over at DailyKos, someone put together a diary with a great collection of public domain and Creative Commons pictures you can use.

2 comments:

jedijawa said...

You're such a lawyer you nerd!

Before someone can nail you for copyright infringement they have to show that you are making some sort of profit or commercial gain off of the use. Without the commercial aspect there isn't a case for copyright infringement.

Still, your point is well taken and made. Hoser. :-)

JD Byrne said...

I'm not sure your analysis is correct, jj. I don't see any limitation in the statute (which can be found here: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html) to infringement only occurring where profit is present. In fact, in the annotations to section 106, there's a blurb from the House Judiciary Committee Report explicitly rejecting what they call the "for profit limitation." That was apparently the law earlier in the 20th century, but is appears to be dead now. You do have to register copyrights, however, in order to obtain damages in court (but not seek declaratory relief to stop the infringement, I think).

'course, I'm not an IP lawyer and I could be wrong. And, from a practical matter, it doesn't make much sense to go after someone for infringing on your copyright unless there is some profit (i.e., damages) to recover.

So, it doesn't seem clear to me that lacking the commercial aspect of use keeps you in the clear. Given that, it just makes sense to try and use stuff that is either public domain or freely given up for use by the creator(s).

Call me paranoid (or anal-retentive). :)