Comments | spartakos: John Unger: intellectual property rights and our fucked-up legal system

spartakos

John Unger: intellectual property rights and our fucked-up legal system

Nov 05, 2009 21:34

Have people no shame?

My darling wife brought to my attention the sad plight of John T. Unger. Mr. Unger is a talented artist who, from the information on his site, has built a successful business out of almost literally nothing. He is also, to my great delight, not a copyright nazi...he is a guy who is getting genuinely shafted by a prize ( Read more... )

Comments 3

betacandy November 8 2009, 07:04:42 UTC

In addition to the really upsetting legal issues you describe more than adequately, Wittrig's actions are conveying the psychological profile of someone who not only feels entitled to steal and get away with it, but to punish his victim for not liking it, and get away with that, too. That's pretty warped.

spartakos November 11 2009, 07:03:42 UTC

I'm actually saddened when I think that there are actually a lot of people with this attitude (that I can screw somebody over, and if they fight back, screw them over even worse). The issue is how often people feel they can get away with it...and I think this should tell us something about the environment these people (and issues) are in. For instance, the fact that Wittrig can pull this shit in court and get away with it (or at least, have a decent chance of getting away with it) says a great deal about the status of our justice system ( ... )

betacandy November 12 2009, 06:35:16 UTC

Yeah, we are endorsing the behavior via our legal system. There's no other reasonable way to read the culture. Like you say, it doesn't excuse the asshole from his or her personal responsibility - many of us read the same culture and decide it's full of shit and we'll aspire to something better. I don't expect the law to reflect my every moral value, or yours, or anyone else's, but I would prefer if it did not aid and abet people in the commission of personal abuse! Honestly, there's got to be a better way to write these laws.

And the fact that some men can and do pull this shit with their wives and children and (all too often) get away with it says volumes about the relationship between men and women (and families) in our society. We should fling this kind of crap in the face of any conservative who says he stands for "family values".Yeah, emotional abusers often use threats of legal proceedings to keep the victim family members stuck: they threaten to get custody of the kids if you leave, or charge you with kidnapping if you steal ( ... )