Quote:
Originally Posted by leebase
Premise....copyright is a good thing. Without that premise, nothing else works.
Copyright never stops being a good thing in the same way that money never stops being a good thing. If people are still interested in 1000 over Disney's movies today....it will only be because Disney has kept them relevant. Society is not owed Disney's money. Society is benefited by Disney creating content.
It is Disney's ongoing efforts that are making it's copyrights valuable and relevant in the first place.
Few people would know anything about The Little Mermaid...if Disney hadn't made the movie. Then incorporated the characters in a theme park, and a line of toys and other merchandise. Disney deserves to be able to keep building up this value the way Rockefeller got to keep all of his oil profits.
The reason for a limit on patents and non-fictional copyrights is obvious so that society can benefit by the building on. Society has no pressing need to have Disney build on The Little Mermaid in the first pace, nor of somebody taking that value for themselves now. Anybody can create their own story.
|
Except that you don't give a reason for copyright being a good thing, you just assume it is. It isn't a good thing, in and of itself - it's only good because of the impact it has. I would argue that copyrights are inherently bad. They create friction where none is needed. The only redeeming quality of copyright is that it keeps creators from being robbed of the fruit of their labors the second after they create it. And our society has deemed that important enough to protect.