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Originally Posted by leebase
I guess "in Lee's perfect world" I'd have copyright for works of fiction be perpetual as long as the copyright holder was tending to the work (keeping it in print, for example).
I don't see a reason for anyone but Disney to be able to create Mickey Mouse material. I know...Disney took many of there stores from old fair tales and the like. But, that would be an example of "if the copyright holder isn't using their works, then other people can".
I say this for FICTION, not science or medicine and the like where society needs there to be further building upon.
Nobody NEEDS to build upon Mickey Mouse. It's fiction. You have unlimited ability to create your own fictional characters. Much in the way of the Sword of Shanara being a scene for scene rip off of the Lord of the Rings....but changed enough (we could argue that point).
So you don't get to own "magic", but you do get to own Harry Potter and Hogwarts....forever if you keep the work available.
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It doesn't quite work that way in the real world of writing. All you have to do is look at massive group of lawsuits over Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately, copyright lawsuits isn't only for simply replicating copyrighted works, but also includes derivative works. Derivative works is a mighty slippery slope and in the end comes down to how aggressive a copyright holder is and what you can convince a judge and jury of.
Derivative works is the reason for public domain and is very, very common in music. I personally would liberalize the rules for derivative works quite a bit. The sword that was broken is a common theme in norse mythology and fantasy literature. Does that mean that Tolkien violated copyright by including a sword that was broken? Boramir blowing his horn was lifted from Song of Roland. Same question. Pretty much any literary work is derived in some way from another work.
Obviously, all fanflic is a violation of copyright, as we currently use the term, yet most authors turn a blind eye to fanflic for rather obvious reasons.
Of course, in the US, copyright is part of the US Constitution and you would need a Constitutional amendment to make the scheme you favor legal.