Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
What you say is of course true, but copyright doesn't protect ideas, merely the concrete expression of them. The fact that Rowling wrote the "Harry Potter" books doesn't mean that the idea of writing a book about a boy attending a school for wizards is protected. Anyone can be inspired by Rowling and write such a book; all they can't do is re-use her actual "world", unless they have her permission to do so.
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I'm aware, and that's why I used the word "expressions" rather than "ideas".
My comment is accurate as written, in that I don't think an author or other artist should have such a long monopoly on a particular expression. I want people to be able to create new stories in the Harry Potter universe if they want (or the Star Wars universe, Star Trek universe, etc.) after a reasonable period of time. How many interesting stories remix and retell (with a twist) a play from Shakespeare?
Copyright is supposed to be a temporary monopoly to encourage creation, but copyright that is too long is stifling because it restricts the new creations that can be made without providing any more benefit. If someone only has a 70 year monopoly on their work, would they be less likely to create than if their monopoly extended to the heat-death of the universe? If the answer is "no", then copyright doesn't need to be longer than that.