Quote:
Originally Posted by tubemonkey
Books should be treated like real property; with no time limit on the "copyright".
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It's amazing to me how many authors whose books are in the public domain have become known again because of Project Gutenberg and other similar groups. With the internet and e-readers, it's fairly easy and efficient to keep those parts of our culture alive. However, in comparison, books and authors from the 30's, 40's and even 50's have been mostly falling into a cultural black hole. I can't see it being any different for modern books when they fall out of vogue. For the vast majority of authors writing since copyright durations have been extending faster than time passes, they will never be republished when they have passed out of our cultural memory, and will end up being forgotten. I can't help but think of the call of perpetual money and control as a siren song drawing authors into oblivion.