Quote:
Originally Posted by bgalbrecht
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.
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Say my grandfather wrote a number of popular novels in the 40s. All of them long out of print. The copyright would still be in force. I might be an heir. Wouldn't earn a penny for me. Why would I check? Why would I care?
Every letter you've ever written is under copyright. Do you have the rights parceled out in your will?