Re: More hypocrisy from Jimmy Wales
Mr. Orlowski,
your last sentence was missing a verb, I'd guess it was 'say'.
I would not compare Lessig and Whales.
Lessig's attempt, at his nation's Supreme Court, to stop the endless extensions of copyrights and trademarks on Mickey Mouse et al., was entirely admirable.
Disney (not so much Walt, he did the pillaging, too, but I very much doubt that his intention was rights in perpetuity to the characters as trademarks) pillages and debases nineteenth-century literature for children, which was in the public domain, then claims trademark rights.
Worst example of pillage, Frozen.
Worst example of theft, Winnie the Pooh, but of course, Milne's estate, although well-off people, were greedy enough to sell a trademark right that did not even exist at the time of Milne's death.
It is a sick system.
There is a USSR animated version of what is claimed to be the source material for Frozen, it is much more faithful to the source, and much better. Very touching.
Lessig's reaction to his loss in court may not have been well-considered, so he falls in with Whales to some extent, but he deserves more than a little respect for his more direct try to reform the system to start with.