I'm bored, let's spit on our fans
Today the Metropolitan Opera made blog news, and not in a positive way. Lawrence Lessig; an attorney who has argued before the Supreme Court, asked a really good question:
"So there's this amazing site (for opera fans at least) called MetManiac, which before the lawyers found it, collected lists of Met opera performances from the beginning of the Met. Non-commercial, pure hobby, an extraordinary historical resource, this was the passion of a fan. If you follow the link, though, you'll see the Met lawyers have demanded the site be shut down...
Can anyone explain what sense it makes that this fan site, which collects historical facts about an important part of our culture, can be banned? I know the lawyers say "the law makes us do it" -- that trademark law, etc., requires that they police the way other people use their name. But what possible sense does such a law make. And at a time when opera around the world is struggling for resources to build an audience, what possible sense does it make to begin to attack your fans?"
The law requires that copyright holders police the use, not forbid the use of material. This attack on a passionate fan is exactly the kind of stupid behavior that only an attorney could approve of. In this case you have one of the greatest lawyers of our time asking the question, WHY?
Ensuring that the site properly disclaims association to the Met, and gives proper copyright credit was all that needed to be done. Instead the Met drives one more nail into the fan base for opera -- good move, NOT!...mj
9:31:15 AM 
|
|
