Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
• What's the time frame before you lose control?
• Who gets to decide which formats are "required"?
• How can anyone possibly predict which formats will be viable, and therefore a "required" investment?
• What happens to an author who explicitly says "I hate digital distribution, and I don't want my books out in a digital form at all"?
• What about photographers and magazine articles, which aren't intended to be continuously in print?
• What about a musician who, for whatever reason, refuses to release recordings and only wants to play live?
• What about an artist who wants control when the material is translated into a different medium?
• Is every book ever written, that has not been made into a movie yet, fair game for Hollywood -- without any need to negotiate or pay for the rights?
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Kali, I think that your first few questions deal with details that a new law can deal with. I'm concerned with general principles.
Once a work has been released for public consumption, I would not grant the author/photographer the right to limit formats. JK Rowling would not have the right to keep her books from being ePublished. (The govt could set a minimum royalty (a healthy percentage) for living authors to ensure that Rowling would get paid something.)
As I stated before, my views are in regard to works made available to the public. Your musician who doesn't release recordings in the first place would have no duty to do so.
Currently every book in the public domain is fair game for a Hollywood movie. My proposal changes nothing, except that most works would become public domain upon the death of the author.