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crich70 · 05-17-2011, 09:51 PM

While without copyright you might see some artistic works being written what would be the point of writing them? Without copyright the author wouldn't be guaranteed to even make a single penny on their works. Anyone could download a book from the net for example and repost it for free since without copyright the author would have no claim to their own property. He/she couldn't sue the person who had made the book available without his/her permission because no such would be needed (in the legal sense) because the work wasn't copyrighted. Take the books posted here at MR for an example. With a few exceptions (Cory Doctrow and Jeffrey Carver to name two) all the books posted at MR are considered out of copyright in Canada where the site's computers are based (if I understand correctly) and Canadian copyright law say that a book is out of copyright after a set number of years (I forget how many) after the author's death (as I understand it). So if I were to post one or more of the HP books here (since Ms. Rowling is still very much with us) I would be liable for copyright infringement and in theory MR would be the co-defendant for having allowed me to post them. I have no doubt they would remove such books (those still in copyright) that were posted illegally asap after discovering them of course. The reason being the author and her publisher still own the rights to be the publisher of said books. Of course Ms. Rowling is probably the exception rather than the rule as far as how much she has made on the HP books in that most authors probably don't have such a following, but most authors write (IMO) for several reasons at once. 1. They like to write 2. They want to share their dreams with others 3. They hope to make some $ by sharing their dreams with others. A world without copyright where anyone could just grab a copy of their works would deny many authors reason # 3 and possibly make it less likely that they would try to publish. We all like to be appreciated for our work and for an author part of that appreciation is making some $ from their labors.

05-17-2011, 09:51 PM	#180
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,310 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	While without copyright you might see some artistic works being written what would be the point of writing them? Without copyright the author wouldn't be guaranteed to even make a single penny on their works. Anyone could download a book from the net for example and repost it for free since without copyright the author would have no claim to their own property. He/she couldn't sue the person who had made the book available without his/her permission because no such would be needed (in the legal sense) because the work wasn't copyrighted. Take the books posted here at MR for an example. With a few exceptions (Cory Doctrow and Jeffrey Carver to name two) all the books posted at MR are considered out of copyright in Canada where the site's computers are based (if I understand correctly) and Canadian copyright law say that a book is out of copyright after a set number of years (I forget how many) after the author's death (as I understand it). So if I were to post one or more of the HP books here (since Ms. Rowling is still very much with us) I would be liable for copyright infringement and in theory MR would be the co-defendant for having allowed me to post them. I have no doubt they would remove such books (those still in copyright) that were posted illegally asap after discovering them of course. The reason being the author and her publisher still own the rights to be the publisher of said books. Of course Ms. Rowling is probably the exception rather than the rule as far as how much she has made on the HP books in that most authors probably don't have such a following, but most authors write (IMO) for several reasons at once. 1. They like to write 2. They want to share their dreams with others 3. They hope to make some $ by sharing their dreams with others. A world without copyright where anyone could just grab a copy of their works would deny many authors reason # 3 and possibly make it less likely that they would try to publish. We all like to be appreciated for our work and for an author part of that appreciation is making some $ from their labors.