Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirtel
The lifetime of the author. Anyone can die early, not just authors. Why should their dependents get special treatment? When a street cleaner dies early, will his dependents get financial support for the next 25 or 50 years? Is the street cleaner's job less important than the author's? Do the street cleaner's dependents deserve financial support less than the author's dependents?
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One problem with making copyright dependant on the life of the author. What would prevent me from assigning copyright for all of my fabulous, best selling novels to ZodWallop, Inc.? Any novels I write would be work for hire for ZodWallop, Inc. and that corporation need never die. That's how mainstream USA comic book publishers have worked forever.
That is why I prefer some set amount of time that is renewable some certain number of times. Works could come into public domain within an author's lifetime if the author doesn't think the book is worth protecting.