Quote:
Originally Posted by CommonReader
Current copyright laws have extended the period of copyright protection to ridiculous lengths. In Germany we also have death +70 and an extreme example is the well known author Ernst Jünger. He published his famous diary of WWI "In Stahlgewittern" (Storm of Steel) in 1920. He then went on to live to the ripe old age of 103 years and died in 1998. His war diary will therefore only enter into the public domain in 2068, a nice 148 years after its publication. No one can reasonable argue that this is required to give incentive to creativity.
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What a shame he survived WWII ... any author with a social conscience should terminate his/her life as soon as the one novel that had to be written is out.
If you want to read it, buy it. If you want to publish it, acquire the publishing rights. Especially if the work of is of any value to you. Other people's creative lifework isn't supposed to be the freebie playground for society.