Quote:
Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
If copyright continues to be extended, it may well be that no books ever again enter the public domain. Disney is certain to push for an extention of copyright when the copyright for Steamboat Willie nears expiration, and they may well get keep getting extensions. The last copyright extension was challenged in court, but the Supreme Court ruled that it didn't volate the "limited times" provision of the copyright clause. But there has to be some point where we have to say "this is too long to qualify as 'limited times'". Extending copyright over and over again is in effect the same as eternal copyright.
I'm a supporter of copyright for limited times, but I am an opponent of eternal copyright. Culture and the public domain are inseperable. One of the real ironies is that those who want copyright to be eternal quite often have benefited from the public domain. Where would Disney be without the public domain?
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I'm not sure where I stand on this one. If the creator of the work or his estate don't benefit from the sale of the work, then Amazon and B&N etc will. They seem to bring out copies of Jane Eyre for example every couple of years and just change the cover. I think I would rather that someone connected to the creator of the work benefited.