Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetpea
Not with the fundamental principle. But I do have one with the current setup. I still think a "x years after first publication" and not "x years after death"... With the first, the heirs will still get something if the author dies within that x years.
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The only problem is - how do you define publication? If you define "publish" as the first time it's committed to a tangible form? Then you're counting on being able to trace that specific date of creation. That's the advantage of the current system - death dates are a lot easier to figure out than "the first date he wrote that down on paper". If you define it as being released publicly, that's a whole 'nother thing because not all original works created get released publicly in any form.
Let's use songwriting as an example - should my works only get protection if a publishing company takes me on and adds them to their catalog?
Or screenplays - the majority of those never get in front of an agent, let alone being optioned for production. Granted, with screenplays, proper form dictates putting a date on the cover, but that's a specification of the form, not required for copyright protection.
With books, the recent rise in self-publishing means that more books will see the light of day, but certainly not all.