Quote:
Originally Posted by leebase
Let’s say “To Kill A Mocking Bird”. No one should get to write the sequel except Harper Lee or someone who paid her for the rights....or paid her descendants.
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She had no children, but googling indicates that she left the bulk of her estate to four relatives.
In three centuries, none of them may have living descendants. Or they may have thousands of descendents living in dozens of countries with differing copyright laws.
In a thousand years, either there will be no descendents of the original legatees, or almost everyone on earth (and Mars?) will be one.
I support what is still the rule the largest number of people live under, the Life + 50 standard adopted at the 1896 Berne Convention. Standardizing reduces costs of administration.