Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
The problem isn't with stories, which maybe should be copyrighted without a registration requirement. (I'm fond of the "attach a copyright notice to the work & it's copyrighted" approach.) The problem is that every letter, email, forum comment & greeting card inscription is now copyrighted for L+70; you can't *archive* our culture without tripping over copyright law.
Nevermind the books and paintings and photographs, which could, presumably, be in the marketplace earning their creators some money. It's the kids' sketches on refrigerators which are un-copyable for another 150 years that are the problem. It's the margin notes teachers make on homework, which can't be included in a book about modern education without getting permission from each & every teacher. It's the funny office memos that nobody knows or cares who wrote--except now, sharing it around requires a name and permission, and nobody wants to admit to writing "10 ways a toilet is better than my boss."
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Me, Me, ME.... I want to claim full and complete control over the toilet joke....
More seriously, the problem is that copyright law is
backward to all other property rights. There is
no automatic "it's mine" to
any other type of property. Every other type required
effort to invoke, and effort to transfer. I get a receipt when I buy my bag of lemon drops
precisely to show the change of ownership.
And that receipt is not free!!!. It's part of the costs of the store, just like salaries, stock cost, and property taxes for the location.
So why is copyright so &@#$ SPECIAL??? It isn't I.P., per se, both Patent and Trademark require work to invoke and maintain. Just copyright. Because we all have to pay with the loss of our culture over time just so creative people can have an free I.P. lottery ticket? <Bleep> it, buy your own lottery tickets! You want copyright, then file the puppy! And of you don't file it, you lose it!
(Sorry, have to talk with the men in white suits for a moment.)