People defending their garbage

[DrFaroohk]

"Hey, I don't want this anymore, but NONE OF YOU CAN HAVE IT EITHER! NYAH NYAH NYAH NYAH NYAH!!!!"


That's how I feel about these people. WTF. Either do something with it or let someone else have it. I'm talking about the record company that feverishly guards the songs they don't even have recorded anymore. Books that are out of print. The Wal-Mart that takes valuable products and just pitches it in the trash because of some very minor cosmetic defect.

Especially for a physical object - I have a firm belief that once you discard it, you have fully released ownership and have no right to say or do anything about it if someone else claims it.

[Boozy]

If you discard a physical object, then yes, you no longer have any rights to it. However, this doesn't mean that someone can pick through the dumpsters at Walmart. Those are privately owned dumpsters on private property.

However, if someone's got something out on the curb, on garbage day, that's clearly for discard, then it's all yours.

The other issue you raise is with intellectual property rights. Typically, civil courts will only award damages to companies who can prove those damages. That is, if a company cannot prove that they lost business due to their IP rights being infringed, they get nothing except perhaps court costs.

So if you know of a case where someone owns the rights to something, but is not selling the product, but also doesn't want anyone else to do so, that person will have an uphill battle if they sue. It doesn't mean they won't win, but they are unlikely to get anything in damages.

[HYHYBT]

I don't know about legally, but morally, at least, you might consider a difference between what isn't being sold *now,* but might well be re-released, and something that's obviously never going anywhere again.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm sure the Disney Digital Millennium Copyright Act has something to say about punishment for infringement on even out of print and no intention of reprinting materials.

^-.-^