Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinisajoy
The point is they shouldn't go public domain while the creator is still alive.
Some people in this thread were wanting the creator to either pay a fee every year to keep the copyright active or it should go into public domain so others could benefit (make money) from it.
They used the term orphaned books.
To me, if a book is that important to society as a whole then it would still be readily available because publishers aren't going to kill a golden goose.
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Nobody that I recall ever used the term "orphaned books" to refer to a book that has an author that is known to be still alive, or a book that we know who the rights belong to.
By definition, an "orphan book" is one where the author is no longer alive, and the heirs either can't be found, or it's unknown who the heir actually is. If a copyright had to be registered every year (with or without a fee), then those works would fall back into the public domain and would not be lost.
Shari