Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
Some people are actually for that.
Not that I am. After a few hundreds years, the rights holders, if known, will probably consist of hundreds of heirs due to some partial rights holder having died intestate long ago. Once the rights can't be easily established, it becomes impractical to legally distribute a copyrighted eBook.
After a thousand years, most people on earth would probably have a portion of the rights of most books. I mention this to point out the absurdity of perpetual copyright.
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I am not in favour of permanent copyright either, but I think this is a straw man argument. There are all sorts of property that have been inherited throughout the centuries, and I assure you that very little of it is partially owned by me, alas. What is more likely is that a single heir will receive it, or the collective heirs will either sell their shares to a single heir, or the estate will monetize the copyright by selling it to someone or some corporation, or if no heirs are found, it will be go to the state. In the long run, I expect that there would be a few publishing houses that would buy up most of the unwanted copyrights (presumable for next to nothing for anything out of print). If you think the "Happy Birthday Song" copyright issue is ridiculous, this would only make it a billion times worse.