The Kafkaesque Question Of Who Owns Kafka's Papers; TechDirt.com, 9/24/10

Mike Masnick, TechDirt.com; The Kafkaesque Question Of Who Owns Kafka's Papers:

"[T]his also raises separate questions about the ownership of the physical papers vs. the copyright on the works. The two are not the same, though it makes life even more confusing when you start to dig into what the copyright situation might be on some of these works. Considering that Kafka's own desire was to have them burned, only adds to the mess of questions...

[T]hat question of "ownership" is really what's (rightfully) bugging Friedman, and is one of the points that we continually try to raise here at Techdirt, with our concern over how copyright has turned away from its intended purpose (promoting the progress) into this false belief that it is about "ownership.""

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100923/04231311133/the-kafkaesque-question-of-who-owns-kafka-s-papers.shtml

Kafka’s Last Trial; New York Times, 9/26/10

Elif Batuman, New York Times; Kafka’s Last Trial:

"The situation has repeatedly been called Kafkaesque, reflecting, perhaps, the strangeness of the idea that Kafka can be anyone’s private property. Isn’t that what Brod demonstrated, when he disregarded Kafka’s last testament: that Kafka’s works weren’t even Kafka’s private property but, rather, belonged to humanity?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/magazine/26kafka-t.html?_r=3&hp=&pagewanted=all