[Greg Anos]

Let me try again....

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Not really: The "IP deal" was based on a given period of time that it was deemed acceptable to guarantee exclusivity of a product to a creator, to encourage that creator to create for the public. Some parties chose to use mass production figures as a guideline for writing up contracts and agreements that would either transfer rights or apply after exclusivity was lost, but those were for the profitability of the contract holders... not the actual IP agreement.

The "IP Deal" was done to encouage production of new works. It provided a new and very different model for payment over a very limited period of time, payable out of a monopoly granted of that period. It was initimately tied to the mass production model. No mass production model, no effective basis for I.P.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

The whole point was to provide for a fair way to compensate the creator, since, as you pointed out, no other work-compensation model would provide adequate incentive for an individual creator (and at the time of its creation, there were no "invention houses" like the Edison labs in existence to provide an inventor with a place to get a regular paycheck to invent).

No, the point was to create more I.P. Now this was done by incenting the producers, both the creator and the manufacturer of the final I.P. physical product, but compensation the creator was not the reason it was done. It was a side-effect if you will. This deal was based on a technology
basis (mass production) that made the law self-enforcing. The law of unintended consequences resulted in the creation of a totally different form of compensation (royalty) that had never existed before. It is inherently different, and is an artifact of I.P./mass production model. If the model fails, so does that form of compensation.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

"Grim" may be a matter of opinion. Certainly it will be different. What you suggest is essentially a more institutionalized system: Artists will work for the compensation of a third party (like an advertiser), which will probably increase the complexity of the system around them. If they cannot make such a third-party arrangement, they will not create. Organizations called "publishers" will bring artists together under one roof, and handle the arrangements with third-party advertiser/patrons, so creators can create. And third-party advertiser/patrons will likely work with houses that they have prior experience with.

Presto: We're right back where we started, with creators working under publishers, and the only thing that is different is that the publisher is no longer printing as much paper, and we're applying the word "grim" to the printing industry.

Grim I said and Grim I meant. There will be no ongoing royalties in the forthcoming model. It'll be like the Doc Savage pulp world. One manuscript, one payment, one time, and nothing else. No auxillary rights, no ownership of character, nada. Work for hire terms, just like programming for a corporation. Assuming the corporation can make a profit....

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

No, the world does not owe anybody something for nothing. However, every individual owes every creator/producer something for a product/creation they willingly consume... and especially if the creator duly requested payment for that item. Whether that payment comes from per-use charges, tolls, taxes, or paychecks from institutions that support you, if you produce something people want, you are owed for whatever people take.

You aren't even owed something for something. I could write a manuscript and spend a year doing it. That doesn't meant it worth anything to anybody. (With my talents, I'd probably have to pay somebody to burn it....) Karl Marx is in the 360 degree position. Labor has no intrinsic value at all. It only has value, when the end result is something that somebody else is willing to exchange something else for. No more, no less. If nobody is willing to trade for it, all the labor in the world is valueless.