Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
So you're saying that nobody should be allowed to publish authors like Shakespeare, or, indeed, perform Shakespeare plays and charge money for those performances?  . I'm probably missing something obvious, but it's not clear to me how society would benefit from this. Can you explain? |
I'm not sure what my post has to do with plays.
Society would benefit because without people being able to make money from selling something that the public has a right to get for free Amazon wouldn't have 87,404 results showing for Shakespeare.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Where would have been the incentive for Christopher Tolkein (who was very likely the only one who could have done it) to edit and publish his father's unpublished work had he not been able to make a reasonable return from doing so?
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There wouldn't have been a need for this. According to
wikipedia The Silmarillion was published in 1977, but J.R.R Tolkien tried to publish it since 1937. If it would have entered the public domain after 20 years, people would have had access to it much earlier mainly because publishers would have a limited time to make money of the book. So worst case scenario it would have been available in 1957.