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Harry: There is, IMHO, absolutely nothing wrong with existing copyright laws.
Dennis: Given the current trends of copyright law in the US, where nothing will ever go out of copyright, I question the assumption that there's nothing wrong with the laws.
Harry: Yes, I agree with you that "perpetual copyright" is clearly not a good thing, and must act to stiffle creativity. In the rest of the world, however, new material is continuing to enter the public domain year upon year, so you're describing a problem that's specific to the US, rather than being a problem with copyright in general. As I've mentioned before, our (UK) government recently rejected a proposal to extend copyright terms, and I've seen no mention anywhere of any proposals in the EU to extend copyright beyond "life + 70", which appears to be very much becoming accepted as the "global standard".
Dennis: The current trend in the states can be largely laid at the feet of DisneyCo, who wants to make sure Mickey Mouse and friends never become Public Domain.
The simple solution would be a legal distinction between rights held by individuals and rights held by business entities. Rights can be "author's life + X years", but if the "author" is a business concern like Disney, "author's life" can be indefinite.
Harry: That sounds good to me, certainly.
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