All's Fair In Love And War... But What About in Trade?

In John Lyly's novel "Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit", published in 1578, and "Euphues and His England" from 1580, a young man said to be "well endowed by nature" and who would probably be
accused of sexual harassment nowadays, is associated with the quote, "the rules of fair play do not apply in love and war."

1578 predates the Geneva Convention (1949).  Also Title IX.

The saying" "the rules of fair play do not apply in love and war" are said to be the inspiration for "All's Fair In Love and War".

"All's Fair..." is quite an Orwellian statement, because it really means the opposite. Any dirty tricks, deceit, coercion, compulsion are acceptable when one's objective is conquest.

What is "Fair"?
Everyone has a notion. When one speaks of Fair Trade, one means to suggest that every participant is willing, and is equitably treated in reciprocal dealings. "Free" trade is often considered "Fair" trade. (NAFTA ?) Interestingly for the copyright enthusiast, "Fair Trade" was once a euphemism for smuggling!  "Fair Means" is defined (at least in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable) as with no deception and no compulsion.

"Consent" orders don't seem to me to have much to do with "consent" or lack of compulsion, since they force musicians who may not have been born when the first "consent" orders were imposed, to make their music available to radio stations and other for-profit purveyors of "music services" without negotiation, and for remuneration rates dictated by the government.

And then, there's "Fair Use"... which is often in the cynical and immoral "All's Fair" tradition, especially in the context of User "Generated " Content, which is all too often not generated, but merely uploaded by a site user.

The Copyright Alliance promotes a link to Neil Turkewitz's discussion of UnFair Use, and Untruth in arguing against NAFTA renetotiations of copyright protections for original creators.
http://copyrightalliance.org/ca_post/nafta-dangerous-harbors-unfair-use/

Neil  Turkewitz, "Nothing in NAFTA pits one group of creators against another-- except to the extent that some putative creators want to be able to use others' works without authorization."

I infer that when Neil Turkewitz writes "putative creators" he is being exceptionally polite.

For authors and other original copyright creators, the Copyrright Alliance is offering an opportunity to be a featured artist. One has to answer five interview questions (one of which is to describe ones experience of having ones copyright infringed).
https://mlsvc01-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/d2e8d4e5501/2943552b-af0c-43b2-ab66-1a5e8d85a390.jpg?ver=1508861849000

Finally, the Authors Guild has a splendid article about Unfair Use of copyrighted works by uneducated university faculty.
https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/universities-can-improve-copyright-compliance/

If you are aware of educators who are duplicating and distributing entire works by authors to save students from having to rent or purchase copies of the works, please know that this is not fair, right or moral.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry