[rohrpost] Fw: <textz.com> copy adorno, go to jail?

[ariel authier]

COPY, COPY, CPOY, COPY, COPY, COPYA, COPIA


> Copy Adorno, Go To Jail? Textz.com Doesn't Think So
>
> The Hamburg Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Culture,
presided by
> Jan Philipp Reemtsma, has just advanced science and culture to a whole new
> level: Sebastian Luetgert, the founder of textz.com, is facing a warrant
of
> arrest and may go to jail if he fails to pay more than 2,300 euros in
damages
> for the alleged copying of two essays by Theodor W. Adorno that the
foundation
> claims as their "intellectual property". Reemtsma was kindly asked to
settle,
> but refused.
>
> The case dates back to August 2002, when the foundation filed for a
preliminary
> injunction against Luetgert at the Hamburg State Court, referring to the
alleged
> distibution of two works by Theodor W. Adorno, "Jargon der Eigentlichkeit"
and
> "Fascism and Anti-Semitic Propaganda". Since not a single e-mail was sent
to
> notify textz.com of the matter, and since written notification failed to
reach
> the defendant, textz.com only learned about the issue after a few days.
The
> works in question were immediately removed from the site to avoid any
further
> legal hassles.
>
> In December 2003, Luetgert found himself confronted with a warrant of
arrest,
> obtained against him by the Hamburg Foundation, citing unpaid claims
related to
> the unauthorized copying of said works. In January 2004, Luetgert
addressed the
> issue in a letter to Reemtsma and asked for a scholarship so he could pay
this
> debt and avoid jail time. Reemtsma did not reply, but handed the letter
over to
> his foundation's lawyers - Senfft, Kersten, Voss-Andreae & Schwenn - who
insist
> on the payment of 2,331.32 Euros for alleged damages and legal fees.
>
> Textz.com believes that an "intellectual proprietor" of Theodor W. Adorno
and
> Walter Benjamin who claims to advance science and culture by sending
people to
> jail for taking Adorno and Benjamin serious is seriously wrong on a whole
number
> of points. The Hamburg Foundation undererstimates the resistance of their
> possessions against their legal protection just as much as their lawyers
> underestimate the ability of the Internet to route around damage. In the
end,
> they may even be wrong in thinking that they will ever get their property
back.
>
> Today, in an open letter (http://textz.com/adorno/open_letter.txt),
Reemtsma has
> been notified that his foundation's "intellectual property" has been
returned to
> the public domain. This first-of-its-kind protest signals a refusal to let
> copyright holders and lawyers censor the very works they pretend to
protect and
> control what the public can archive or read. There is a universal right to
copy
> that will never cease to apply, and there is copyright legislation that
will.
> The spectre haunting the scientific and cultural industries is a new
commons
> materializing before their very own eyes. We're just at the beginning.
>
> Textz.com
> February 24, 2004
>
> http://textz.com
> mailto:textz at textz.org
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
> How you can support textz.com:
>
> - Spread the word. Tell your friends, tell a journalist, write about it,
put it
>    on a website, post it to a mailing list, etc. Textz.com is also
available for
>    interviews, just mail to press at textz.org.
>
> - Sign our petition at http://textz.com/adorno/petition.html.
>
> - Write a letter to Jan Philipp Reemtsma, Hamburg Foundation for the
Advancement
>    of Science and Culture, Mittelweg 36, 20148 Hamburg, Germany. If you
like,
>    send a copy of your letter to textz at textz.org.
>
> - Donate to textz.com via http://textz.com/adorno/donate.html.
>
> - Buy a copy of Robert Luxemburg's "The Conceptual Crisis of Private
Property as
>    a Crisis in Practice" (http://textz.com/crisis). All proceedings will
go to
>    textz.com's fund for legal expenses.
>
> - Put our "Free Adorno" banner (http://textz.com/adorno/banner.gif) on
your
>    website, and/or link to http://textz.com/adorno.
>
> - Meet textz.com at Neuro Festival, February 26-29, Munich, Germany (check
>    http://neuro.kein.org for details) and join our discussion about
further
>    strategies in this case.
>
> - Select all, copy, paste, save, upload, share. Reappropriate. (And
remember:
>    there is no need to break what you can circumvent. Don't innovate,
imitate.)
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
> Related links:
>
> Documentation of our correnspondence:
> http://textz.com/adorno/documentation.de.txt
> http://textz.com/adorno/documentation.en-babelfish.txt
>
> Press coverage:
> http://textz.com/adorno/press.txt
>
> Open Letter to Jan Philipp Reemtsma:
> http://textz.com/adorno/open_letter.txt
>
> The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction:
> http://textz.com/adorno/work_of_art.txt
>
> Franz Kafka on "intellectual property":
> http://textz.com/kafka
>
> Textz.com mission statement, early 2001:
> http://textz.com/concept
>
> What others say about textz.com:
> http://textz.com/press
>
> The textz that textz.com is all about:
> http://textz.com/cache
> http://textz.com/textz
>
> Some state-of-the-art copyright circumvention technologies:
> http://textz.com/trash
> http://textz.com/crisis
>
> Some more stuff we have not yet been sued for:
> http://textz.com/search
> http://textz.com/news
>
> Drop us a line, send us a text, or subscribe to our newsletter:
> http://textz.com/contact
>
> Finally, while freeing Adorno, please free the Grey Album too:
> http://textz.com/greyalbum/greyalbum.html
>