I have been thinking

I have been thinking about copyrights lately and it seems as if the whole business of copyrights is in a state of flux. In a digital age, an age of information…what can be sacred anymore? And why do we have copyrights for some things and not for others?

Odd things about copyrights; I can loan you a music CD legally. You can then loan it to John. But I can’t loan the music to both you and John at the same time. I can sell my CD to a store that specializes in used CD’s, but I can’t sell the music on that CD to others. But what did I own? The CD or the music? Or both? And books present another problem. Since they are not so easily digitized, the sharing of multiple copies is not usually a problem, yet. But used bookstores make a profit many times on a single work of an author and the author receives nothing. A musical artist makes money every time a song is played. A literary artist makes money only once; when the book is sold. And libraries! Repositories of potential profit for the authors, yet the books are read for free…unless you keep the book too long. Photos? I can take a picture of the Grand Canyon and try to sell it to you for $$$’s. You can stand right next to me and take your own picture. Is either one of those photos copyrighted?