On Sat, 30 Nov 2002 17:21:28 -0600 "William Crump" <crumpw@bellsouth.net> wrote:
Curlew has a particular hamburger that they own the rights to. They contract with Steve/Cuneiform to distribute that particular hamburger. Copies of an artwork are not like copies of a generic foodstuff like hamburgers. If you manage to duplicate Curlew's blend of eleven herbs and spices in your CD burner and can create exact copies of Curlew's hamburger, you are cutting into Curlew's rights as an artist and Steve's rights (agreed into by contract) as distributor of the Curlewburger. You are stealing Curlew's and Steve's right to profit from Curlewburgers.
I suspect that a burger is rather more like a live performance than a CD. Chez Panisse (around the corner from me, but maddeningly out of my price range) will happily sell you books of their recipes, knowing that you'll try to cook them at home. But your result will almost undoubtedly not be as good as theirs, and also will not come with the restaurant's ambience, so you'll be likely to return to the restaurant, perhaps with even a greater appreciation of the food. Musically speaking, the recipe book might be analogous to a detailed transcription of a performance. Yes, you can learn to play every note of the transcription of the "Kind of Blue" album, but you're not going to end up sounding like that band, and might appreciate it more. OTOH, I suspect restaurants that contemplate the far future get the willies when they contemplate the Star Trek food replicators and holodeck. -- | jzitt@josephzitt.com http://www.josephzitt.com/ | | GPG: A4224EFA http://www.mp3.com/josephzitt/ | | == New book: Surprise Me with Beauty: the Music of Human Systems == | | Comma / Gray Code / VoiceWAVE Silence: the John Cage Discussion List |