美国法律既是严谨的又是灵活的，广大新移民生活在美国，不能想当然。NN 网民从桑兰案中可能得到了一个错误概念，以为在联邦法院打官司争议额必须大于 $75000 美金 （“ the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $75,000”） 。但广大网民似乎没有明白，桑兰案并不涉及联邦法，这种案子本来应该是在州法院打的。只是因为桑兰与被告们属于不同州，根据美国宪法联邦法院也可以管辖（但争议金额必须大于7万5）。各位想一想，就应该明白金额固定的只有死合同之类的案子，对于任何 tort 来说，这个争议金额很容易可能超过7万5，比如诽谤该陪多少？可能是0，也可能是100万。 比如说， 违背 Lanham Act以及恶意诽谤需要作出的赔偿与惩罚性赔偿就只能由陪审团定了。所以，这个争议额一般根本不是问题。 我在之前介绍过，侵犯版权属于联邦法 Copyright Act 的管辖范围，这类案子根本没有争议额的要求。Copyright 对美国的发展是如此重要，乃至美国的创始人们把它写入了美国宪法，由联邦政府统一保护。对于那些不懂知识产权概念的新移民来说，这一点值得注意。 中西部网客提出了一系列的质疑，还是老生常谈的概念错误。即使不去逻辑推理，举例就知道了。那个下载 20首 mp3的单身母亲为什么要陪上百万美金？ 原告难道证明自己因为别人下载了20首歌就损失了上百万？ 当然不是。其实，那位下载者最初可以交几千块钱就了事，但她不干，原告的 settlement offer 就失效了。最终她需要赔偿的叫做 statutory damage, 也就是法定赔偿。对于蓄意侵权来说，每次侵权的法定赔偿上限为15万美金 。 原告可以在诉讼过程的任何时候选择索取实际赔偿+对方利润，或者法定赔偿。联邦版权法这样写道：【Statutory Damages. — (1) Except as provided by clause (2) of this subsection, the copyright owner may elect, at any time before final judgment is rendered, to recover... an award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in the action, with respect to any one work... in a sum of not less than $750 or more than $30,000 as the court considers just... (2) In a case where the copyright owner sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that infringement was committed willfully, the court in its discretion may increase the award of statutory damages to a sum of not more than $150,000.】 换言之，非蓄意侵权的最低赔偿是750, 最高 30,000。如果是蓄意侵权，则最高为15万，可以买2万包水饺了，一天吃一包，如果你不厌倦，可以吃55年 。估计如果你买这么多，还可以打折。骑自行车卖沙发如果每件利润100，那得卖1500件，自行车轮胎都会磨破、脸都会晒得脱皮。这就像一个一两重的iPhone 要800美金，一个几百斤的电冰箱可能也就这价-- 还 free delivery+free installation。由此可见，美国之所以科技发达、文化艺术事业兴旺是有原因的，那就是美国尊重知识、保护 发明创造 。在美国，价值的衡量不是看东西的重量或者你是否汗湿背心，而是知识、技术含量。 那么什么叫蓄意侵权呢？ 这有两个要素，原告必须证明（1）被告侵权；（2）被告知道自己在侵权。 读者可能要说了，假如侵权者坚决撒谎，说自己就是不知道这侵权了，那你怎么办？ 当然，这个判断最终是由陪审团做出，取决于陪审团是否相信被告。但是从法律上这个判断准则包括 “reckless disregard" 以及 ”willful blindness"。第九巡回法院写道：【要证明蓄意侵犯版权，原告必须证明（1）被告实际了解侵权活动；或者（2）被告的行为是源自对版权所有者权利的“鲁莽漠视”或者“蓄意无视”】（【To prove `willfulness' under the Copyright Act, the plaintiff must show (1) that the defendant was actually aware of the infringing activity, or (2) that the defendant's actions were the result of `reckless disregard' for, or `willful blindness' to, the copyright holder's rights'" 】）。 那些看多了电视、电影，以为美国法律空子好钻的应该明白一点，民事案件不像刑事案件。刑事案件的证明标准是 beyond a reasonable doubt，而民事责任的证明标准是 "more probable than not" （可能大于不可能）。
科普不存在抄袭，这好像是方舟子或者其粉丝们的一个辩解。听起来好像跟孔乙己的窃书不是偷一样 。但这是不成立的，孔乙己如果去书店窃书照样会被打一顿，抄科普作品也是抄袭。 所谓抄袭其实就是蓄意侵犯著作权的一种形式---willful or malicious copyright infringement。“抄袭”一词有一点道德上的含义。而著作权侵犯属于“严格责任侵权”(strict liability tort)，不管你主观意识如何，你抄了就构成侵权。 根据中国与美国的法律以及相关国际条约，侵犯著作权等知识产权既有民事责任，也完全可能有刑事责任。 要搞清什么是抄袭，我们就得先搞清什么是著作权。在这里，我们把讨论限于文字作品。 什么是文字作品？ 在美国著作权法里，文字作品指用文字、数字或者其他符号表达的作品（“ works ... expressed in words, numbers, or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia...”， 17 U.S.C. S101, etc) ，中国相关法律是参照相关西方法律制定，也差不多。小说、诗词、文章等等当然是文字作品，计算机软件（无论是源代码还是执行码），也是文字作品。说穿了，文字作品就是符号的排列组合。科普作品当然属于文字作品。 什么是著作权？ 这是由法律赋予给著作权所有人对相关作品的一系列专有权利，包括发表、复制、改编、创做衍生作品等。所谓专有权利就是其他人不能行使的权利。 发表、复制、改编等著作权是可以转让的。 另外还有一项署名权，顾名思义就是说这是谁的作品，这个署名权只属于原作者。 著作权是知识产权的一种，英文称intellectual property 。IP概念 是西方文明的一个重大发明，把智慧成果当成一种财产保护，以此鼓励创造与知识的分享，这也是西方文明突飞猛进的原因之一。 著作权如何产生？ 当作者写下其作品的一瞬间，著作权就存在了。也就是说，你并不需要注册你的作品才有著作权。但在美国，如果要去起诉他人，你必须申请注册你的作品，而且如果在被告侵权之前注册还有各种好处，可以不需要证明自己的损失而索取法定赔偿。 举例说，如果你10年前在网上发表了篇文章（或者照片等），结果你发现三年前这篇文章被人抄袭了。在美国要起诉抄袭者，你需要先去注册一下，但你要获得赔偿必须证明自己的损失或者对方的获利。但如果你在4年前就注册了，那么由于这个侵权是在注册之后，抄袭者的日子就难过多了--因为你可以要求有法定赔偿(statutory damage)。 什么是侵犯著作权？ 根据美国法律，侵犯著作权有且只有两个要素（1）原告拥有作品的著作权；（2）被告行使了作品的著作权 （注一）。 侵权最直接、最明显的是那种几乎一对一的复制，比如说把一段英文翻成中文，或者只做细微的改动（比如说只是把人名、地名换掉）。而比较隐蔽的侵权就需要进行更为复杂的分析，确定其相似度。 我举个例子，假如我进行牛顿力学与摩擦力的科普，自然规律是没有著作权保护的，但我用薄的鞋底作为例子进行一系列的讲解，这就产生了著作权，另外一个人如果按照我的文字，依样画葫芦写篇科普，那就侵权了。 抄多少算是侵权？ 有些人以为要大段大段地抄，抄到百分之几十才能算侵权，这是误解。我见过的侵权案中最短的被告只是在一本书里抄了四个英语单词（见下面的案例），但被告所有相关的收入全部判给了原告。 从案例看，即使COPY很少的内容，后果也可能很严重。 如何维权？ 由于知识产权诉讼费用高昂，除非侵权者获得大额利益，或者被侵权者有的是资本，一般来说，被侵权的人也不会去进行法律追究了。但是应该注意的是，法律往往是道德的底线，违法也往往意味着违背社会道德。所以，大家对抄袭的行为应该指责，而不是企图掩盖。 在美国，如果需要保护自己的著作权，应该将作品注册 --- http://www.copyright.gov ，注册之后，起诉侵权者时就愉快多了，因为被告可能得赔偿你的律师费，而这个费用很容易上几十万美金。 相关案例 1） 美国第九巡回法院的判例：COOK v. ROBBINS, 232 F.3d 736 (9th Cir, 2000) 这个案子里，原告写了一本书，里面有两个独特的词语组合“meter drop", "rolling stock"。被告办讲座的时候，发的资料里用了这两个词组。原告起诉被告侵犯COPYRIGHT。陪审团把被告讲座所获全部利润都判给了原告。审判庭法官认为抄的很少（还有其他理由），把陪审团的判决废了。联邦第九巡回法院发了一道措辞严厉的判决，说区法官概念不清，被告就是侵权了，维持陪审团原判。 2） 美国第八巡回法院的判例： Andreas v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., 336 F. 3d 789 （8th Cir, 2003) 原告Brian Andreas 作了一幅画，在画上写了一句话，全文是: "Most people don't know that there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable fall asleep miss your life." 大众汽车公司雇佣了一家广告公司设计电视广告，这家广告公司设计了一个睡天使之类的画面，旁白说到： “"I think I just had a wake-up call, and it was disguised as a car, and it was screaming at me not to get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss my life." 原告起诉广告公司与大众汽车侵犯copyright。陪审团判决被告赔偿当年所卖相关汽车(AUDI)利润的10%。审判庭法官认为没有原告没有证明汽车的利润与这句话有关（广告还有其他内容），说没有证据说某个客户是听了这句话才买的车，因此废掉陪审团判决。但联邦巡回法院推翻下级法院的裁决，维持陪审团的判决。 注一： 值得注意的是，被告没有获得许可不是侵权的要素，那是被告的辩护，对此，我曾经以我在美国联邦法院的案例说明。某些原告就是在这个地方没搞清，被耍了。
朝鲜战争常见问题解答31-33 The Korean War FAQ Copyright(c) , Dongxiao Yue, 1998, All rights reserved. 31 . What did Mao say about US after the Korean war? "American imperialists are very arrogant, they are very unreasonable whenever they can get away with it. If they became a little bit reasonable, it was because they had no other choice." 32 . Did US consider the use the A-Bomb in Korea? US generals actively considered the use of Atomic Bombs from the very beginning, even before China intervened. US presidents considered the use of the A-Bombs after PVA entered. On June 1950, Eisenhower met with Collins, Haislip, Ridgway, Ike suggested use of two atomic bombs in the Korea area. In July 1950, MacArthur suggested plan to use atomic bombs to 'isolate the battle fields". On November 30 1950, President Truman said in a press conference: "There had always been active consideration of its use...". On December 24 1950, MacArthur submitted a list of 'retaliation targets' in China and North Korea, requiring 26 atomic bombs. In January 1953, US tested its first tactical nuclear weapon, and the JCS considered its use "against military targets affecting operations in Korea."' In February 1953, in a NSC meeting, President Eisenhower suggested the Kaesong area of North Korea as an appropriate demonstration ground for a tactical nuclear bomb--it "provided a good target for this type of weapon". On May 19 1953, the Joint Chiefs recommended direct air and naval operations against China, including the use of nuclear weapons. The National Security Council endorsed the JCS recommendation the next day. Dulles, the Secretary of State was visiting India and told Nehru to deliver a message to Zhou Enlai: if peace was not speedily attained, the United States would begin to bomb north of Yalu, and US had recently tested atomic shells. 33 . As a side question, did US threaten China with nukes after the Korean war? Yes. US threatened China with nuclear weapons again in 1959. From recently declassified documents, President Kennedy considered using nukes to bomb Chinese nuclear facilities in early 1960s , when China was on the verge of exploding its own bomb, but JFK was assassinated and the plan was dropped by President Johnson. Facing nuclear threat, Chairman Mao said:"we need to have some atomic bombs too". In 1964, China exploded its first A-Bomb. 30 months later, in 1967, it exploded its first H-Bomb. Since then, China has developed a variety of strategic and tactical weapons. China also produced missiles of various ranges, initially targeting US bases at Japan and Philippines, and eventually the North America continent. Mao also said:"We must have nuclear submarines even if this would take us ten thousand years". China tested its nuclear subs in early 1970s and tested SLBMs later. The exact size of PLA nuclear stockpile is unknown, but reasonable estimate put it in the range of 2000-4000 warheads. In March 1996, PLA conducted an exercise in the Taiwan Straits, President Clinton sent two carriers to the straits. PLA responded by dispatching its nuclear attack submarines and the US fleet stayed 300 nautical miles off Taiwan. In the meantime, PLA SAF (Secondary Artillery Force) conducted exercise to retaliate against enemy strategic strikes. PLA Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. Xiong Guangkai reportedly hinted that US cares more about LA than Taiwan.
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