Quote:
Originally Posted by howyoudoin
I'm just saying that if an inheritance tax on copyright exists, and the heirs don't bother to pay it, perhaps there should be a mechanism to indicate to society that the copyright on said work has lapsed with the death of the author and hence it is immediately in the public domain now. Otherwise it ends up a waste of 70 years (or 'x' years depending on country) where no one else publishes that work for under the false assumption that the copyright still exists.
|
You don't get the choice of whether to pay it or not. In the UK at least, the assessed tax is taken from the estate before the residual value is distributed to the heirs, and I believe the same is true in other countries, too. The executor of the estate would end up in court charged with tax evasion if the inheritance tax were not to be paid.