Quote:
Originally Posted by teh603
The problem is, copyright law does favor the middleman right now, because he's the one with enough money to buy out copyrights from the actual creator.
|
If the creator doesn't want to sell those rights, then the publishers cannot buy them, no matter how much money is on offer.
If the content creator signs a bad deal, that's their own damned fault. They should hire a better lawyer next time.
And again: In the US, if your work was published after 1978,
you can get your rights back. The content creator doesn't have to compensate the publisher, they basically fill out a form and voila, they have the rights back.
There is no way that aspect of US copyright law can be viewed as "in favor of the middle man," because it
explicitly gives the content creator a legal means by which to regain copyright just by filling out a form.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by teh603
Look at a lot of the recent lawsuits between patent troll companies and business that're actually trying to make a product....
|
Patents are a form of intellectual property, but are a completely different ballgame. Patent trolls have nothing to do with content creators transferring rights to a publisher.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by teh603
Are you willing to make copyrights no longer tradeable as property, to ensure the right people benefit?
|
The "right people" can include either the author,
or the company that spends money up front to pay the author for the book, pays for the editors, pays for the marketing, pays a bunch of the lawyers, pays the advertising....
Content creators should have the right to transfer their copyrights as they see fit. And no one, I repeat no one, is forcing them to fork over their rights.