Quote:
Originally Posted by Daithi
Personally, I'd like to see very short copyrights and patents; let's say 10 years and allow them to be renewed every 10 years. The first 10 years is free (or a nominal fee) and then each 10 year period the renewal fee would go up exponentially (or polynomially). That way Disney can maintain their Mickey Mouse copyright but it might cost them a million dollars for the privilege. However, this would allow ideas and art to pass more quickly into the public domain where they can be copied.
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Oooh, I
like that one!
- Copyright a work: free, happens automatically on placing it in a fixed format (like a printout).
- 10 years later: register it for $10. Do this for anything that might remotely be publishable, including the fanzine you printed six copies of; your high school homework assignments fall into the public domain.
- 20 years later: Re-register for $100. Currently in-production stuff, and anything you have a good reason to believe will be commercially viable. This is the "hedge your bets" stage--if you guess wrong, you're not out much.
- 30 years later: Re-register for $1000. Only do this for books, movies, music currently in production and selling well. Out-of-print stuff only if you've got a buyer already lined up.
- 40 years later: Re-register for $10,000. Only major publishing houses and movie distributors bother with this level. (Will Harry Potter be a viable commercial property in 2037?)
- 50 years later: Disney registers Mickey for $100,000. Microsoft does the same with Windows OS. Everything else drops into the public domain.
The extra money (beyond what it takes to process the copyrights, including a public-access registry) can go into an "arts and sciences progress" fund.