3.758 plagarism, cont. (35)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Thu, 16 Nov 89 17:56:01 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 758. Thursday, 16 Nov 1989.
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 89 18:14:00 EST
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 3.748 copyright, cont. (187)
As one who has published several translated works, I can say that a
translator cannot publish without permission from the author of the
original, via his agent/publisher/and/or himself/herself. Permission
to publish a copyrighted work in one's translation is given via a
contract with royalties or fees provided to author of the original via
his representatives...if the original work is in the language of a
country that has joined the Berne International Copyright Covention.
Iran has not, for instance, so my Persian translation of Forugh
Farrokhzad did not have to go through the Estate of the family. I
suppose the murky area is the "publication" via e-mail or modem of
others' copyrighted property. E-mail is letter mail, so it would be
private, as it were. Reproduction and dissemination are violations of
copyright, as if you sell or give out tapes you have pirated from the
air, of Sergiu Chelibidake, say, who does not record. Theft, pinching,
copying, massaging, etcetera. I have colleagues who make in excess of
100K$ a year advising lawyers about plagiarized texts that are made into
tv or movie offerings. It is a big business, Hollywood plagiarism. But
everyone knows that a thief is a thief..proving it is court stuff and
takes cash. But we Humanists know the difference between creating a
text and "producing" a text that has a prior incarnation, even if only
10% of it has been retained, or 1%! I hope we know the difference. The
rest is weaseling and rationalizing. Kessler at UCLA here.