Since I am responding to a topic, I suppose I should contribute something. It would seem that the work required to protect copyright is a bottomless pit and doomed to failure. As a law, it served its purpose for its time, but reproduction is just too easy now to make it a viable proposition to defend creative work. I recognize that it would be impractical to drop the laws, but if I was an artist, I would look for every way I could find to make my bundle up front, so as not to be overly distressed by pirates. Copyright goes, and the entertainment industry will change pretty fast.

It won’t be an end to art, because that comes from an internal drive, and somebody will always write songs and stories and books, and make movies and set up websites, but how all these get their living and how good a living they get will certainly change.

US as pirate? Japan was a pirate in the same way, and China is now, and it is working for them. China is under pressure by Western manufacturers and R&D concerns to tighten up, and police patent protection or risk losing opportunities to do business bigtime.

So, what will happen? Actually last month Epson had patents for some of their printer cartridges rejected as being reworks of existing designs, and therefore not protected against third party manufacturing. and a Chinese company had their patents for cartridges for Epson machines upheld.

So if that is the way the wind blows, the business model of selling a machine cheap in order to make a killing on consumables may be in need of reworking. Also, it makes life easier for the guys who pay me, since they make 3rd party ink, and it has to go into some cartridge somehow if it is to be of any use in the world.

I’m rambling. Willl close with best wishes to you on your birthday, and my deepest gratitude to your lady for being kind and loving and helpful and fun and for being herself. Please tell her I want a picture and look forward to meeting her in May.