Quote:
Originally Posted by kennyc
Required registration is dumb. The law is correct as it is in that something created is the property of the creator.
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That works fine, as long as he's the only one with access to it. If he wants to license and restrict other people's use of it, registration may be necessary.
If I build swing in my back yard, I don't need to register anything. If I build it on public land, out of public materials (nobody owns language), and I want to limit who can use it, I'm going to have to file something with an office somewhere.
I think requiring registration initially is silly. I think that continued commercial exploitation should require registration; works with no identifiable owner should fall into the public domain quickly, and there should be an acknowledgment that these works are built out of a common, shared heritage, and using materials available to everyone, and therefore locking them away from the other people who contributed to their creation--the ones who taught the author how to read & write, the ones who manufactured the cameras that made the photographer's art possible, the ones who sell the books that make income possible--should be sharply limited.
If you can't make your fortune in 50 years, another 50 won't help. If you can, you can make another fortune with another creative work; you don't need to lean on that one your whole life.