Quote:
Originally Posted by doubleshuffle
I once heard a very interesting interview with German writer Arno Schmidt from the late 1960s or early 1970s.
{. . .}
But then there's a quick exchange about copyright after the author's death. In Germany, it had just been extended from 20 to 50 years - and Schmidt calls that extension ridiculous. Twenty years, he thinks, is absolutely sufficient to let an author's children profit a bit from his efforts, and it shouldn't be any longer.
So if Life+20 is enough for an author who is fiercely protective of his own copyright, why should it be so much longer?
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I think you have your facts and dates wrong since Germany has been Life+50 or more for a long time (life+80 at one point.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyri...y#EU_Directive
Germany has implemented the EU Copyright Directive 93/98/EEC. Parts of the Directive were based on German authors’ right law in the first place, e.g. the duration of copyright term: German authors’ right law had previously granted protection for 70 years after the death of the author,[10] which was the longest term of all EU member states; before 1965 it was life plus 80 years.
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Similarly the UK and the British Empire has been Life+50 since 1911 or so with no obvious ill effects..