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Rand and Halley’s Concerto — IP Theft?

Early in Atlas Shrugged there is a scene of Dagny Taggart on a train, dozing; she hears some guy whistling a tune she knows must be from the composer Halley; she asks him what it is, he says it’s Halley’s 5th Concerto. “But he didn’t write one,” she says; the boy realizes he’s let the cat out the bag and clams up. Later on she finds herself whistling or humming the tune too.

Now this is a perfect example of IP theft. It’s a derivative work or public performance–stealing the guy’s pattern without his permission! Yet Rand portrays the young guy and Dagny as good, virtuous. Therefore, she sees no problem with this IP theft.

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{ 2 comments… add one }
  • Dr. Q April 5, 2010, 10:24 pm

    Haha, good one.

  • moxy October 18, 2010, 8:40 pm

    As a musician I often hear things in my head and then realise someone else used my idea elsewhere: I need a good lawyer~?!

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