發信人: b83050@cctwin.ee.ntu.edu.tw (Post Gateway), 信區: BudaTech
標  題: 關於大正藏的版權~
發信站: 由 獅子吼站 收信 (Fri Mar 29 16:07:15 1996)


以下是關於大正藏的版權討論。

這是早期的討論，後來大家又得到更進一步的消息了。

~---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 1995 11:10:31 +0900
From: KONEIL@pimacc.pima.edu
To: a-shinshu-forum@cctwin.ee.ntu.edu.tw
Subject: Re: Taisho Sutra:Copyright

WhiIe copyrighting of the Taisho books may have expired copyrights for a
specific CD technology may well be a new copyright - not against the text,
just the CD.

The whole issue is clouded by changes in copyright laws and the recent 
emergence of international copyright agreements, the latter being very recent.

As I recall, content   of the Taisho was editted by a team of experts. If that
is true, then the content is unique - a creation of the Taisho period! But in
most cases it contains numerous editions of texts (eg, hannyakyo) handed down
forever. By contemporary standards, those texts cannot be copyrighted since
they've been in the public domain for hundreds, even more than a thousand
years.

Further clouding the matter is the fact of decades of  reprint editions out of
Taiwan and Hong Kong. Should there have been no movement by whoever claimed
ownership to stop such practices - even protest them - then decades of tacit
approval have knowingly been granted.

As Claude noted, everyhthing in Japanese Buddhism is costly. As an American I
say go ahead and copy freely - even undersell the Japanese. Just remember what
they did to the American semicondcutor industry in the 1980s, selling DRAMS
below cost of manufacturing in order to pirate the world market. Silicon
Valley's continuing high unemployment can be traced to such imperialistic
business practices. I don't buy Japanese rice for the same reason - and
support President Clinton's 100% tarif on Japanese luxury cards. It the Taisho
guys suddenly see a profit motive, I'm sure they'll find no reason not to lie
and be deceiptful (how many of the 5 precepts will a buddhist business break
in order to squeeze cash out of anything?).

It should be noted that American copyright law would support saying Taisho has
no rights to the text - only to the new CD.

ken o'neill