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Re Stone Tools, elf mark and copyright length:
I walk into a card compny and buy a car. I pay the money, I get the car. Would it be fair if 10 years down the road, the car became a collectable, worth 3 times what I paid for it, that the dealer tows the car away until I pay the differential between the original purchase price and the new value?
Of course not.
But if the creators and the public make the same deal, (the creators creates a work, and the public guarantees it for a fixed length), why is it Ok to suddenly change the rules to "take the car back", i.e. extend the copyright length?
In both cases, I paid a creator, whether real or intellectual, what the market said was the proper price - at the time of purchase, whether it was cash on the barrelhead or a guaranteed monopoly for x years. I (the public) held up my end of the bargain, why has my right of contract been abrogated, just because it was I.P. instead of real?
Extending the I.P term is as much stealing as piracy is. I find it particularly annoying when a bunch of thieves keep screaming "help, help, I've been robbed."
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