MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - A different take on copyright and Orphan Works

Greg Anos · 02-03-2014, 07:05 PM

I have been thinking about the problems of Orphan Works, Corporations, and copyrights in the US. I came up with a different idea to help with the problem. I'd like to pitch it out here on MobileRead for others to think over and hopefully offer constructive criticism. I don't claim to have a polished, finished idea; just something to knock around...

(Moderators - the purpose of this thread is to elicit feedback. If it gets too far off the thread, feel free to put it in P & R. But I'm starting it outside of P & R in order to get the most people considering the issue. The more eyes, the more improvements, or so I hope...)

Many people (not all, Tubemonkey (RSE bows respectfully)) think that copyright is too long, especially with the continual extensions in the US. There seems to be no hope of stopping these extensions, because the corporations with the money who buy the extensions, have properties they want to protect. But these properties are usually only a few selections of their copyright library, the rest are left to molder away in their vaults.

So if the stick doesn't work....try the carrot.

What carrot? How about a tax credit (refundable) for both corporations and individuals, for copyrights released into the Public Domain? Here are the terms that I have come up with. They are not sacred, just some ideas. Please, please come up with some more.

To get the tax credit, all aspects of the work must be released. Not just releasing, say, print rights while retaining auxiliary rights, or music publishing rights while retaining a performance rights. Furthermore, to assure that this is not just a tax dodge, an archival quality copy of the work to be released must be provided to the Library of Congress so that it can later be made available to the public, and notice of release to the US copyright office.

How much should the tax credit be, and on what should it be based? I think it should be based on the accumulated royalty payments for a copyright (for an individual), and something similar (accrued profits?) for corporation owned copyrights.

As to how much, I admit I don't know. Whatever it is, it should be generous enough to encourage copyright release, without busting the US government's budget.

Finally, it should be completely voluntary. You can keep your copyright as long as the terms of copyright allow you. The government would just be offering the copyright holder a bribe to let it go early...

What say ye?

02-03-2014, 07:05 PM	#1
Greg Anos Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,531 Karma: 37057604 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Pocketbook	A different take on copyright and Orphan Works I have been thinking about the problems of Orphan Works, Corporations, and copyrights in the US. I came up with a different idea to help with the problem. I'd like to pitch it out here on MobileRead for others to think over and hopefully offer constructive criticism. I don't claim to have a polished, finished idea; just something to knock around... (Moderators - the purpose of this thread is to elicit feedback. If it gets too far off the thread, feel free to put it in P & R. But I'm starting it outside of P & R in order to get the most people considering the issue. The more eyes, the more improvements, or so I hope...) Many people (not all, Tubemonkey (RSE bows respectfully)) think that copyright is too long, especially with the continual extensions in the US. There seems to be no hope of stopping these extensions, because the corporations with the money who buy the extensions, have properties they want to protect. But these properties are usually only a few selections of their copyright library, the rest are left to molder away in their vaults. So if the stick doesn't work....try the carrot. What carrot? How about a tax credit (refundable) for both corporations and individuals, for copyrights released into the Public Domain? Here are the terms that I have come up with. They are not sacred, just some ideas. Please, please come up with some more. To get the tax credit, all aspects of the work must be released. Not just releasing, say, print rights while retaining auxiliary rights, or music publishing rights while retaining a performance rights. Furthermore, to assure that this is not just a tax dodge, an archival quality copy of the work to be released must be provided to the Library of Congress so that it can later be made available to the public, and notice of release to the US copyright office. How much should the tax credit be, and on what should it be based? I think it should be based on the accumulated royalty payments for a copyright (for an individual), and something similar (accrued profits?) for corporation owned copyrights. As to how much, I admit I don't know. Whatever it is, it should be generous enough to encourage copyright release, without busting the US government's budget. Finally, it should be completely voluntary. You can keep your copyright as long as the terms of copyright allow you. The government would just be offering the copyright holder a bribe to let it go early... What say ye?