copyright and latin descriptions

[Julian Humphries]

At 06:22 PM 10/19/98 -0500, Robin Panza wrote:
>
>It seems to me that a scientific name has an implicit copyright permission
>attached, as its only function is to provide a handle for discussing the
>organism.  I can't believe anyone could take you to court for quoting their
>name.  My name was first printed on my birth certificate.  Do you really
think
>my mother's gynecologist is the only person allowed to write my name down
>anywhere?!
>

What some people are missing is the distinction between the fact
itself and the publication of that fact.  Unfortunately for us, the creation
of a new name *requires* a publication and thus it is at least conceivable
that the publisher of a new name (probably not the author) will require
recompense for its reuse.   *YOU* might intend for others to use the name,
but the publisher may have different ideas. Read the articles I cited
earlier in
my longer reply.  Its very clear that scientific reuse of information is
threatened.

This is not a to be taken lightly threat.  Several bills have been
proposed over the past two years that make all "collections of information"
subject to severe penalties for unauthorized copying.   The standard cited by
learned opponents of this legislation is the current Supreme Court ruling that
phone books can be copied freely because they are a simple (although
organized) list of facts.  Under all versions of new legislation phone
books and
all such collections of information are protected.  What makes this
legislation
really diabolical, however, is that the concept of fair use is greatly
restricted
and any reuse that *harms* the original collection is subject to civil and
criminal penalties.  Lots of yucky, lawyer stuff involved, and we definitely
don't want this legislation to pass.

Also, we can try and change publishers, but there has been extensive
consolidation
in the publishing field and the number of independent (read  "they might care
about our business") publishers is rapidly dimenishing.   Another sad trend.

Why is all this happening?   I don't think we have to look beyond the almighty
dollar for a rationale.

julian humphries