Proposal: Shirerithian Copyright Law

[Sebastien Alexandre]

The following is the law I have written up to provide due protection and punishment to violators and authors in Shireroth. hence why the bill is named:Shirerithian Copyright Law of 2005Article I: Defining a CopyrightI: A copyright is defined as the protection provided by the laws of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth to authors of “original works of authorship”, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. II: Copyright protection is available to published and non published works.III: Material not copyright or otherwise protected by Imperial Decree, etc is available for use by anyone without need for author’s consent.Article II: Defining PlagiarismI: Plagiarism shall be defined as the exact or recognizable copying and/or claim of ownership by an illegitimate author who does not hold copyright over said intellectual works and without consent of the appropriate “owner of authorship”. Article III: Establishment of the Shirerithian Copyright Committee (SCC)I: Under the laws of the Shirerithian Copyright of 2005, the Shirerithian Copyright Committee shall be established with the full rights to enforce and establish copyright of all Shirerithian works. II: The SCC shall consist of the Committee Chairman who shall be Decreed to said position by the current Kaiser, Kaiseress, Steward, or in certain cases, the Landsraad (in absence of an Imperial Dictator); the SCC shall also consist of two additional committee members who shall be appointed and dismissed at the will of the Committee Chairman. Article IV: Rights of the Shirerithian Copyright CommitteeI: The SCC shall have the right to grant copyright status to any works of Shirerithian (or it’s predecessors), context to the original owner, a publishing company with rights, or to the Shirerithian government. II: The SCC shall have the right to bring plagiarists, copyright infringers, and “copyright posers” before the Imperial Judex for due prosecution. Article V: The Rights of a CopyrightI: A copyright issued shall be in effect until such as a time as either the owner of authorship denounces Shirerithian citizenship or sells, destroys, disowns, etc their legitimate claims to zir copyright.II: The Shirerithian Copyright Committee preserves the right to allow copyright of originally Shirerithian works to denizens, honorary citizens, emigrated citizens, and those of Knightly Order permanent copyright regardless of locationIII: Upon copy-right infringement, said owner of the copyright shall be allowed to take up case with the Shirerithian Copyright Committee and state zir case against the alleged offender. If the case cannot be settled within the Committee, it will be transferred to the Imperial Judex.IV: Copyright infringers and plagiarists found guilty of their crimes will be forced to pay a minimal of 30 erb.Article VI: Storing of RecordsI: The Shirerithian Copyright Committee will be required by this law to keep a record of all Copyrights within the Shirerithian Library. The Shirerithian Copyright Committee will also be charged with keeping hard-disc copies of all copyrights and copyright infringers/infringements in case of system failure or forum thread wipe out to preserve all copyrights and save the nation a large influx of Tylenol import.II: The Shirerithian Copyright Committee shall not be allowed to keep copyright information private. However, to receive a copy of the copyright laws in form other than that residing in the Shirerithian Library one must contact the Chairman of the Shirerithian Copyright Committee, by which zir will be obliged to give you said copy.Article VII: Voting of DecisionsI: Upon the request of a publishing company, foreign or national government, ducal, baronial, or countal government for a copyright, they will present their case in an eligible, understandable manner, providing all links necessary, the signature of the author of the works needing to be published, the date they were published, the consent of all others involved with said works, or the parts of group-projects they alone worked on and they alone wish to copyright. II: A Duchy, National Government, Foreign Government, Barony, County, or person may make an appeal to the Shirerithian Copyright Committee to copyright all works bearing their name or that pertain to that faction within reason. III: All works of the Shirerithian government, including Imperial Decrees, Landsraad Laws and Procedures, Titles and Names, Departments and Ministries, organizations etc are considered to be automatically under the protection of copyright so long as they are sanctioned by the Imperial Republic and the Kaiser, Kaiseress, Steward of Shireroth, or ruling governing body. IV: All works created by a Duchy or Barony after this bill comes into effect will be considered copyrighted by zir author provided they note links to said intellectual works. V: All works created by a Duchy, Barony, or county after this bill comes into effect will be considered under copyright law provided a signature is provided by Duke/Duchess stating the following:I [Name], [Duke/Duchess] of the [Duchy] in the Imperial Republic of Shireroth do claim that these writings be the genuine intellectual works of [authors name] and can verify that no copyright infringement of plagiarism has been conducted in the creation of these works. I also state that all sources are sighted, no documentation is personally offensive without due historical reason, and that I do hereby declare this intellectual work to be under copyright law as provided by the Copyright Bill of 2005 in the Landsraad and in concordance with the Shirerithian Copyright Committee this [day]th day of [Shirerithian Month] in [Shirerithan Day]This will then be co-signed by the Chairman or others of the committee and logged as under copyright law. Signed,High Illuminator and Count Ozarka Mons of Port Illumination Elwynn

[UEC]

remove ther reference to the kaiser as a "dictator"... he's a monarch.... let's not antagonize the boss.. E. Metzler (UEC)Duke of Brookshire"Never use a BOO/\/\ist as a diplomat" -- GSClicky Clicky..., Tiss for your own good ya know.

[Sebastien Alexandre]

So.. beyond that.... you ahven't said whether you like it or not..

[UEC]

looks interesting. I'de have no outright problems... as of this time. E. Metzler (UEC)Duke of Brookshire"Never use a BOO/\/\ist as a diplomat" -- GSClicky Clicky..., Tiss for your own good ya know.

[Shyriath]

I like the overall idea of extending copyright protection. I see a few details that might need to be fiddled around with, but my brain's not quite in working order right now, so I may not be understanding things properly... but anyway, overall it seems like a good idea.Hmmm. Well, I'm a bit too tired to focus well, but here's two things you might want to consider:1. Maybe include a section on the application of Shirerithian copyright law outside Shireroth. If someone in another micronation, or even someone outside micronations, plagiarizes a Shirerithian work, what happens? Keep in mind, we have no actual power outside our own forums and website, so this is going to involve working with outside authorities.2. Concerning this passage:Quote:III: Upon copy-right infringement, said owner of the copyright shall be allowed to take up case with the Shirerithian Copyright Committee and state zir case against the alleged offender. If the case cannot be settled within the Committee, it will be transferred to the Imperial Judex.It might be a bit more efficient if such a case went straight to the Judex, and if the Committee were more into the management of copyrights and copyright lists than hearing cases. Certainly the Committee should have a part in the case, by providing documentation and such, but the Judex sees little enough business that there's really no reason not to send ccopyright cases to it directly.

[david northworthy beckfor]

the committe seems a bit big if you ask me...maybe better to have it as a one man department under MinInfo or Judex, as a bloke making records? If you feel an icy chill...the Conglacio is amongst you

[Sebastien Alexandre]

To keep record of EVERY single thing that someone thinks up?

[david northworthy beckfor]

No, just do a cut and paste of every single thing that someone bothers to notify the commitee on. If you feel an icy chill...the Conglacio is amongst you

[Sebastien Alexandre]

Yet, David, on another note, if three people are running it, then we can atleast have a good 99.9% chance of someone being active and running it, instead of having it slowly slip into decay as other Departments and Ministries have.

[Kaiseress Semisa I]

Also, why would they have to keep track of everything? I would think they'd only have to keep track of what got stamped as "copyrighted". By my hand,Her Niftiness, The Resurrector: Semisa, First of the Name, Kaiseress of Shireroth, Protector of Comstokia, Overlord of the Duchies of Naudia'Diva, Elwynn, and Kildare, Thane of the Shirelands, Keeper of the Apollo Legacy, Grand Master of the Orders of the Dragon, Griffin, Phoenix, and Chimera, Wielder of Vengeance, Bearer of the Celestial Barrier, Countess of Shirekeep, Knight of the Dragon, Arsonirathius of Delvenus, Knight Companion of the Most Magnificent Imperial Order of the Sovereign Viking Crown, Princess of Hvalafell, Priestess of Cedrism, and Lady of the Golden Mango Throne.

[Sebastien Alexandre]

So what do I need to fix before sending this to Ric and asking him to push it before the Landsraad.

[david northworthy beckfor]

Quote: Yet, David, on another note, if three people are running it, then we can atleast have a good 99.9% chance of someone being active and running it, instead of having it slowly slip into decay as other Departments and Ministries have.but that would be 3 people siting around waiting for someone to ask to have a copyright listed, which means they all forget If you feel an icy chill...the Conglacio is amongst you

[Sebastien Alexandre]

I highly doubt three people are all going to overlook their duties of handling the nations copyrights and going abroad to as many micronations as they can tryign to get them to all follow the same rules.