When a company develops a technique or process, they file a patent and once approved they have tremendous rights that protect them from other people using the same idea to make money. Recent court rulings have held that it doesn't even matter who comes up with the idea first, or how many other people had the same idea, its whoever gets the patent first.
Apple got a patent on their iPhone which protects them against even very different technologies which still 'look' like an iPhone. I think the iPhone looks a little bit like the communicator in Star Trek except for the missing flip lid, its an obvious visual design but somehow Apple has the patent.
So why are copyrights on images so weak and lax? Why can some stupid photographer snap a couple pictures of a Brazilian teenager and suddenly they are all over the internet, used to create huge profits selling pornography, advertising, phone sex, whatever. Oh yeah, thats right, the photographer maybe paid her a dollar and owns the copyright and so can do what he wants with it. Does that even make sense? Unlike a patent idea (which many people can have the same idea or duplicate the idea), a human's image is pretty unique. So why can it be sold/resold/displayed/redisplayed without any credit going to the person to whom the image belongs. I am not just talking about financial compensation, I am talking about credit of identity. Because once the photographer buys the rights, he somehow is able to rename the image. For example the picture he takes of Sonia in Spain, he is allowed to rebrand as "Naughty Nellie from Nebraska" or "Peeing Penelope from London". He can totally fabricate the origin of the image. He could even say it was a person from outer space.
Its all bullshit. I, for one, have long stopped buying anything on the internet if I am not completely sure about the who the models or actresses are. And most of the time, even if I know them, I will not buy unless I am sure they are running the business. Oh well.
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