There's a famous story about a battle between the Marx Brothers
and Warner Brothers. The Marxes intended to make a parody of
<!-- PAGE BREAK 159 -->
-<citetitle>Casablanca</citetitle>. Warner Brothers objected. They wrote a nasty letter to the
-Marxes, warning them that there would be serious legal consequences
-if they went forward with their plan.<footnote><para>
+<citetitle>Casablanca</citetitle>. Warner Brothers objected. They
+wrote a nasty letter to the Marxes, warning them that there would be
+serious legal consequences if they went forward with their
+plan.<footnote><para>
<!-- f19 -->
See David Lange, "Recognizing the Public Domain," <citetitle>Law and
Contemporary Problems</citetitle> 44 (1981): 172–73.
Warner Brothers that the Marx Brothers "were brothers long before
you were."<footnote><para>
<!-- f20 -->
-Ibid. See also Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and Copywrongs</citetitle>, 1–3.
+Ibid. See also Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and
+Copywrongs</citetitle>, 1–3.
<indexterm><primary>Vaidhyanathan, Siva</primary></indexterm>
</para></footnote>
-The Marx Brothers therefore owned the word <citetitle>brothers</citetitle>,
-and if Warner Brothers insisted on trying to control <citetitle>Casablanca</citetitle>, then
-the Marx Brothers would insist on control over <citetitle>brothers</citetitle>.
+The Marx Brothers therefore owned the word
+<citetitle>brothers</citetitle>, and if Warner Brothers insisted on
+trying to control <citetitle>Casablanca</citetitle>, then the Marx
+Brothers would insist on control over <citetitle>brothers</citetitle>.
</para>
<para>
An absurd and hollow threat, of course, because Warner Brothers,
</para>
<indexterm startref="idxwarnerbrothers" class='endofrange'/>
<indexterm startref="idxmarxbrothers" class='endofrange'/>
+
+<indexterm id="idxadobeebookreader" class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>Adobe eBook Reader</primary>
+</indexterm>
<para>
Consider the life of my Adobe eBook Reader.
</para>
<para>
-An e-book is a book delivered in electronic form. An Adobe eBook
-is not a book that Adobe has published; Adobe simply produces the
-software that publishers use to deliver e-books. It provides the
- technology,
-and the publisher delivers the content by using the technology.
+An e-book is a book delivered in electronic form. An Adobe eBook is
+not a book that Adobe has published; Adobe simply produces the
+software that publishers use to deliver e-books. It provides the
+technology, and the publisher delivers the content by using the
+technology.
</para>
<para>
On the next page is a picture of an old version of my Adobe eBook
Reader.
</para>
<para>
-As you can see, I have a small collection of e-books within this
+As you can see, I have a small collection of e-books within this
e-book library. Some of these books reproduce content that is in the
-public domain: <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle>, for example, is in the public domain.
-Some of them reproduce content that is not in the public domain: My
-own book <citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle> is not yet within the public domain.
-Consider <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> first. If you click on my e-book copy of
+public domain: <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle>, for example, is in
+the public domain. Some of them reproduce content that is not in the
+public domain: My own book <citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle>
+is not yet within the public domain. Consider
+<citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> first. If you click on my e-book
+copy of
<!-- PAGE BREAK 160 -->
-<citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle>, you'll see a fancy cover, and then a button at the bottom
-called Permissions.
+<citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle>, you'll see a fancy cover, and then
+a button at the bottom called Permissions.
</para>
<figure id="fig-1611">
<title>Picture of an old version of Adobe eBook Reader</title>
</figure>
<para>
<!-- PAGE BREAK 164 -->
-Here was a public domain children's book that you were not
- allowed
-to copy, not allowed to lend, not allowed to give, and, as the
- "permissions"
-indicated, not allowed to "read aloud"!
+Here was a public domain children's book that you were not allowed to
+copy, not allowed to lend, not allowed to give, and, as the
+"permissions" indicated, not allowed to "read aloud"!
</para>
<para>
The public relations nightmare attached to that final permission.
control. That incentive is understandable, yet what it creates is
often crazy.
</para>
+<indexterm startref="idxadobeebookreader" class='endofrange'/>
<para>
To see the point in a particularly absurd context, consider a favorite
story of mine that makes the same point.