|
I think it's a very complicated question.
Basically I think it should be something like this:
Artistic works - the copyright should belong to the artist until death. If there was a period with renewal system that would be okay as long as the renewal system was simple and the artist was properly reminded that their copyright was in danger of expiring with ample warning (otherwise people could lose their copyrights due to idiotic red tape). Upon their death I think that that the time of copyright should be fifteen years if the artist specifically leaves the copyright to their work(s) to someone. If the artist dies without their wishes being known, maybe due to accidents or whatnot, the family/significant other should be able to claim it for a maximum of five years if there is no evidence that the artist was estranged from the family (I personally wouldn't want most of my family profitting from anything of mine).
For corporations I think it should be based on their investment and their treatment of the creative types involved. But basically that the length of the copyright should somehow be valid until their profits reach a certain ratio in relation to the investment (i.e. 3:1 or 10:1 or whatnot).
For things which are not artistic and "benefit" society, it should be shorter (although this is more for the field of patents).
I also think that if a charity held the copyright to some work(s) they should be able to keep it as long as the funds made from it were not abused (for example if a charity which helped runaway children had the rights to Peter Pan and the income that that generated was used for the children and not to pay "administrative costs" then they should be able to keep it).
Well, that's what I think in a simplified form.
|