Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
Are you saying that the public domain would not be enriched by the works (at least in part) of Hemmingway, Faulkner, Hammett, Chandler, Cabell, the golden age of Science Fiction writings, Doc Savage, The Shadow, various poets (e e cummings, Frost, ect), Thurber, Zane Grey, ect? (All of which would have been in the public domain for their writing from 1923 to 1956, as of this post.)[...]
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Not at all. The public domain will be enriched by these works in due course. What is rather harder to define is the relative value of that enrichment now versus some years later, since most of these books are available to read now for those that want them. Obviously people with different priorities to mine will calculate the value differently.
How soon do we want "The Torrents of Zombies" and "The Old Man and the Zombie"? Sorry, I know I should try harder to restraint my tendency for glib - but if we are not talking about the ability to create derivative works then what other enrichment value (as opposed to simply making the books free for those that don't like libraries) do you see in their earlier entry into the public domain?