Quote:
Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
If copyright was eternal, Romeo and Juliet couldn't have been written, because it would be a derivative work. Walt Disney made a career of mining the public domain. If patents were eternal, we'd be lucky to have a practical steam engine.
Eternal or excessively long copyright or patent creates stagnation, but of course no copyright or too short copyright or patents removes incentive to create in the first place. The issue is what the correct lenght of time is.
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Not so. It would have involved paying for the right of use. The only difference an expired copyright provided Disney was a reduction in production costs. It wouldn't have stopped production, they still had to generate income.
As for steam engines, (and patents are not under discussion) we had a great deal of research and development in steam engines during the time that the patents were in place.