Actually you can
reproduce artwork, provided you make it clear that you are selling a copy instead of the original. People only need to pay the current owner if they want an actual photograph of the thing. Think "Cheesy Bookmarks" versus art fraud.

However the corresponding example would be that it should be completely legal to
reverse engineer software rather than copying it (eg. including hand-redrawing the sprites) provided it is clear that it is a copy instead of the original. Of course, the owners of the originals tend to make things difficult by suing you if you try to name your game "This Is Not Star Wars!"

Buying a copy of a book doesn't give me the right to sell photo-copies of it. Ditto for taping a TV show. Reading/Watching these however shouldn't remove my right to write something with a similar plot. Mickey Mouse may be copy-righted, but I should still be allowed to write stories about Ricky Rodent. Of course, expecting these people to put their energy into building an MM2 clone instead of whining might be a bit optimistic...

PS: Presumably someone does 'own' lots of PD music, as in the
original documents on which they were written. Probably you meant should that person then own all of the
reproductions of that score, which is different from the
presentation of that music, which is different to the
adaptation of that music, which is why I stick to Shakespeare when arguing about the PD and high-schools.
