OneManga shutting down

[robkelk]

However, a sculpture can be used as a form around which a mold is made, and the mold used to mass-produce the sculpture. Likewise, a song can captured in a master recording, and the master recording used to mass-produce the song. (Yes, not every sculpture becomes a form for a mold, and not every song becomes a master recording for a record.) I don't see how this argument is even valid, let alone relevant.

If someone creates a mold of a statue I sculpt so they can reproduce that statue then they are copying my mold and unless I sold them the copyright on that statue then reproducing would break my copyright. So if someone started duplicating my sculptures they would be breaking my copyright, the same as if someone started copying my record or novel.

Yes, if someone copies a statue or a book or a song without permission, then they're breaking copyright law unless the artwork is in the public domain. Conversely, the person who does hold the copyright on the statue or book or song is entitled to make such copies.

I still haven't seen a convincing argument why someone who creates a song should have more protection than someone who creates a statue. (Before anyone brings it up, "that's the way we've always done it" is not a convincing argument.)

Similarly: If one person buys a copy of my book and nobody else ever buys a copy of it, then I'm not going to get any more money, am I?

Quire right - if only one copy of a book is sold, the author is only paid once. (Or, more likely, not paid at all because the printing costs were higher than the profit from that one sale.) But if only one copy of a song is ever sold, and it's sold to a broadcast company, the artist gets paid every time the song is played. That's hardly fair, is it?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012