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HansTWN · 11-10-2011, 11:17 PM

Thousands of tiny business selling exactly the same things means nobody makes any money at all and no value is created. Disney doesn't really have a monopoly, there are other competing characters, movies, etc. And not just Disney makes money on Disney items, so do the retailers, all the places where Disney advertises, manufacturers that work for Disney (now they uphold certain labor standards in factories, all that would be gone in a free for all), and Disney employees. Nobody would make money if a Donald Duck doll could be sold for 99 cents, and that is what it would come down to. That is the "it" I was talking about --- all items sold with the Disney brand. The Disney icons are almost like the company's brand. I see more value for society the way things are.

My main argument is that it would make sense to keep copyright for companies like Disney (who hold copyrights over images and characters) separate from copyrights for books, music, and movies. The problem I see happening is that due to the pending expiration dates for Disney's early works GENERAL copyright is being pushed back. As I mentioned, life +70 is much too long for books. So, as you have mentioned, separating the two makes sense to me. Virtually unlimited copyright on books and movies does not serve the public, expecially since often no income is being generated from them and many items actually have been "abandoned".

I don't care about Disney personally, but I believe that there is just this general trend "corporations are evil" and people tend to imagine how wonderful it would be if they had less power. This is true in many cases, but definitely not all. Sometimes you need them, too.

11-10-2011, 11:17 PM	#34
HansTWN Wizard Posts: 4,538 Karma: 264065402 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Taiwan Device: HP Touchpad, Sony Duo 13, Lumia 920, Kobo Aura HD	Thousands of tiny business selling exactly the same things means nobody makes any money at all and no value is created. Disney doesn't really have a monopoly, there are other competing characters, movies, etc. And not just Disney makes money on Disney items, so do the retailers, all the places where Disney advertises, manufacturers that work for Disney (now they uphold certain labor standards in factories, all that would be gone in a free for all), and Disney employees. Nobody would make money if a Donald Duck doll could be sold for 99 cents, and that is what it would come down to. That is the "it" I was talking about --- all items sold with the Disney brand. The Disney icons are almost like the company's brand. I see more value for society the way things are. My main argument is that it would make sense to keep copyright for companies like Disney (who hold copyrights over images and characters) separate from copyrights for books, music, and movies. The problem I see happening is that due to the pending expiration dates for Disney's early works GENERAL copyright is being pushed back. As I mentioned, life +70 is much too long for books. So, as you have mentioned, separating the two makes sense to me. Virtually unlimited copyright on books and movies does not serve the public, expecially since often no income is being generated from them and many items actually have been "abandoned". I don't care about Disney personally, but I believe that there is just this general trend "corporations are evil" and people tend to imagine how wonderful it would be if they had less power. This is true in many cases, but definitely not all. Sometimes you need them, too. Last edited by HansTWN; 11-10-2011 at 11:23 PM.