[PGCanada] Introducing... Vasa
Darryl Moore
darryl at moores.ca
Sat Dec 4 08:36:22 PST 2004
Hello Vasa, welcome.
I'm a newcomer as well. I see PG Canada both as a useful tool for
fighting wrong headed copyright reforms and as an extremely valuable
social institution in it's own right. In fact the former is true only
because the latter is!
I believe PG Canada becoming a registered charity will improve both its
ability to deliver its core service and its respectability when
commenting on pending legislation.
Your strategy of using a for profit corporation is interesting, however
unless you can show significant lost income you will have a difficult
uphill battle. Additionally there is no Charter right to a profit. There
is however a NAFTA one. You might consider making your company an
American entity. Then you would be able to sue for expropriation under
the terms of NAFTA in a way that you could not as a Canadian company.
But again, you'd have to show some significant lost profits.
Best of luck to you.
cheers,
darryl
Michael Lockey wrote:
> Hi:
>
> Unaware of this list, I've been doing my own private plotting, and would
> like to run my thoughts past you. (This comes with the standard
> Canadian Disclaimer about not stepping on feet, embarrassment at being
> egotistical enough to make suggestions, etc., etc., etc)
>
> I've been proofreading and mentoring at DP-INT and -EU for 16 months or
> so, and have shared many of the fears and uncertainties about the future
> of Public Domain.
>
> It is interesting and frightening to see how one (relatively) small
> country can unilaterally change Copyright, then cajole their 'friends'
> until a global result is achieved, despite the opposition of most. (I
> note parentherically that most of the world is Life+50.)
>
> I have, consequently, incorporated Distributed Proofreaders of Canada as
> a for profit concern; I also own dp50.net. (Quite frankly, I don't
> think we should be jingoistic in any of our endeavours.)
>
> I don't think that Disney Corporation- or even Margaret Atwood, God help
> us!- are ameniable to the rights of humanity, or such: I think we must
> fight them on their grounds: money, control, and power.
>
> Which is why DP-CAN is a for-profit operation. (Remember that a
> corporation may give away any amount of its profit.) To download a work
> from DP-CAN (www.dp50.net) will cost $1/download, payable, by the
> downloader, to any registered or non-registered operation or individual,
> as a charitable donation. In this way, DP-CAN will never directly
> receive any money, though both a gross and net income may be
> established. If, then, the government tries to reprivatize materials
> currently in PD, we will suffer a loss and be able to sue for damages.
> My lawyer and I are prepared to go to the Supreme Court, if necessary.
>
> Where I, personally, want to be challenging is by claiming, (as our
> charter does), rights of use for any material- globally- that is
> currently in the Public Domain in Canada. (As, for example, an
> individual or corporation may claim mineral rights without doing any
> work on them for up to 15 years.)
>
> Anyway- that's what I've been working on. My sites are not yet viable:
> I'm working alone, so far. Given the activities going on here, maybe
> I'll need to change some directions. But I've structured this to FIGHT:
> and fight I will. Hence the Company's Motto:
>
> THE BOOK STOPS HERE
>
>
> Cheers, Vasa (Michael Lockey)
> _______________________________________________
> Project Gutenberg of Canada
> Website: http://www.projectgutenberg.ca/
> List: pgcanada at lists.pglaf.org
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