Copyright of first descriptions

[Guido at]

When fine-tuning the copyright rules for digital publications I think it
should be good to concern first descriptions as a kind of exception. There
are some arguments for it...

1. Copyright was created to guarantee the earnings of the original author.
If an alternative publication would have the result of diminishing the
authors' income, that would be theft. The example of Napster was a good
one...
But I wonder how many authors make money on their first descriptions...?

2.  The goal of a first description is to inform the broad (scientific)
public about the new species. Any additional publication will help the
author in achieving this goal faster...

3. There is no sort of publication were more credits are given to the
original author as in first descriptions, because the authors' name in an
integral part of the new taxon name.

Guido Mathieu