I'm not so arrogant to imagine that I bring something so wonderful to teaching that it should be considered protected intellectual property. If the school wants to replace me with another teacher they are free to anytime. My agreement with the school is to teach. I am not contracted to provide them with written materials or manuals. I am paid to physically attend class and, using my accumulated knowledge and experience, try to pass on something of merit to my students with regards to a specific subject. If my job were to write a syllabus and lecture notes for the school I wouldn't be allowed to keep them, the school would already own them since they paid me to come up with it. They didn't pay me for my notes etc. so they don't belong to them. I'll freely give them a copy if they ask however.
When I take on commissioned art work the person I work for gets everything if they want. If they want the notes, sketches, etc. they can have them. I'll keep a copy for myself if I deem them of value for me in the future. If they make copies of the work I don't care.
If it's non-commissioned work I do of my own accord and them sell the same holds true. If someone takes one of the images I sold to them and copies it making thousands of dollars selling those copies I really don't care. I retain the right to use it but everything I do is to me put into the commons as it were.
Everything I know about metal casting I'll share freely with anyone who asks. If I put it all on a website I would consider it all in the public domain regardless of any specific techniques I may have developed. The same goes for paintings, photographs, sculptures, whatever.
Why should a cabinet maker have to physically build cabinets his entire life to derive an income stream but if I take a photograph that image should generate a perpetual income stream for me? Is photography so much harder or more important than cabinetry?
How else could I possibly look at this issue since I have stated I am anti-copyright? I am well aware of the problems this can create for some artists since our society is already geared to remunerating in an unfair manner. That is why I am not hostile towards the writers strike but only that my support is extremely unenthusiastic.
John Thornton