Another aspect to the discussion of copyrights is the question of the moral rights of those who create the work. This article over at Slate discusses the lawsuit by directors to stop a handful of companies from producing "cleansed" versions of movies. I think the directors are going to lose this one. There's too much precedence for no one saying boo when films have been cut or altered for TV or to be shown on airlines, and too many other folks who participate in the creation of a movie to say that any one version reflects the creators' vision.
UPDATE: My new book, Mad Art, seems to be in every physical bookstore but largely unavailable online. Amazon (where it's climbed to #43,363 in the rankings) still says it's due to be released "December 12, 2002." All the other cybershops either say it's not released or it's out of stock. I am not particularly annoyed about this. There's something curiously amusing to me about it. But do let me know if you come across anywhere — except the publisher's website — where you can actually buy the thing via the Internet.