Quote:
Originally Posted by JeremyR
The free market would be no copyrights at all. The original copyright owner would have to compete with "Authorized" editions and what not with unauthorized ones.
That's too far the other way, as while the creator could make money off of it, it would require a lot of effort and that would be timer better off creating.
The old US system worked really well, IMHO. Having to renew copyright meant that only the really valuable commercially stuff was...
|
The problem is that historically, the time is not spent 'off creating.' It's spent in rent seeking behavior (i.e. defending and enforcing the copyright, granting licenses, etc.). This certainly has been the case with patents, beginning with the patent for the steam engine. The book "Against Intellectual Monopoly" deals with this issue extensively via historical case studies (such as that cited above).