[Ken Maltby]

Hmm... as I understand it the stated purpose of the copyright and patent laws are to
incentivise and provide some protection in the marketplace for authors and inventors.
It becomes something of a stretch to say that authors would not be inclined to write
if they couldn't get a deal from a publisher that included factoring in the potential
profits for 70yrs after the author's death.

Now, with the internet, and e-books, the demise of the traditional publishing industry
and even all the brick&mortar bookstores, would not prevent an author from being able
to sell his stories. What would be lost would be the system that provides "advance
payments", although a market for some sort of speculative financing might likely take
its place.

I don't understand what market incentives there may be for not offering ebooks of all
the "out of print" works of authors, but there are still many stories that can't be found
being offered in digital format. When it comes to dead authors, who lets face it can't
be induced to write anymore books, and won't personally profit from the book sales, I
would think that the wider dissemination of their works might honor their efforts more.

I have no problem paying for the efforts to bring a book to market, but if the actual
author of the story is dead, I don't see why a publisher/distributor should be collecting
for the work of the author, they aren't paying him. Now I know it will be said that "We
already paid him and we paid his estate for the last book", but how long does this make
any sense, 70 years?

Most authors works fall into obscurity, not so much as a reflection of the value of the
books to the readers, but to the publisher and the market place. That need not be the
case any longer. Or, at least even the most overlooked book can continue to live on
internet, there is no reason the author or his heirs couldn't still profit from such books
at whatever price the ebooks will sell for. (But Copyright was and is intended to be
for a limited time and not to be "renewed" as a corporate asset, despite the
modifications added by the best politicians money can buy.)

Luck;
Ken