Quote:
Originally Posted by tubemonkey
As I've frequently stated, I see no difference in terms of property rights between Lord of the Rings and the family farm. If LOTR has to go into the public domain, then so should the family farm. If you see a benefit to society by getting the right to read and use someone's characters for free, then I see a benefit to society of being able to use the family farm to offset taxes by either selling or renting it.
|
So something I haven't seen in this thread from the supporters of perpetual copyright, and treating IP as PP, especially with the case of the family farm.
You pay property tax. This is true whether you use the family farm to make money, or just as a home, or even just letting it sit unused.
Currently, afaik, copyright holders are not charged for holding the copyright if they just let it sit, and even when they do something with it it's just the costs of achieving that thing. Now it's all well and good for a copyright which has a finite life, the creator will hopefully make back enough to have made a profit for time+energy spent on the creation. But with never ending copyright they can constantly make money off something which they don't use.
And before you start in on 'they need to work to promote the work', this isn't always the case. And will likely become less and less so with the ability to preserve their creation be it a book, or movie, or whatever, becoming easier and cheaper. Which allows it to stay in the social consciousness much easier. Thus it's possible for a creation to essentially become self sustaining.