[Good Old Neon]

Originally Posted by Liviu_5

There are several issues here and the question is balance; I completely agree that artists should be able to profit form their work for a while, time-frame which should be *reasonable* and also with some caveats of the *Use it or Lose it* thing since once you release something out there, it *will* enter public domain sooner or later, there is no question about not entering, so already society has a claim on the work as opposed to something kept private.

The question is how to strike the balance and how to ensure creators and their families benefit while keeping the profit motive of the enablers (publishers, bookstores...) in mind too since otherwise the works in questions would be harder to find.

Many of us perceive the balance has been skewed - at least officially, legally - in the favor of Big Media and against both creators and the public and that is the issue here, how to re-strike a balance that worked ok for a long time

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

I guess my next question would be, how is it skewed against the creators?

I’m (obviously) not a copyright expert, but let’s take….Mickey Mouse for example. If his image were to pass into the public domain, would that then allow other companies and individuals other than Disney to profit from his image? And if so, would that then allow, and I’ll use an extreme example, ummmm…the KKK or some other equally repugnant racist organization from co-opting his image for use in promotional materials?