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Originally Posted by carld
And how much do you imagine we've lost over the ages from works that were never brought to print because the writer couldn't make a copper to live off of? I'd guess it's rather a lot.
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Couldn't the lack of printing have been due to the fact that Gutenberg wouldn't be born for another 2000 years? I doubt the ability to make a profit would have motivated Plato or Euclid to write more. People were free to copy their works, and did so for themselves or for the limited audience which could understand them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carld
In our current age, yes. But it wasn't always so. Look, I'm all in favor of reworking the copyright system to be more in favor of the consumer (very much so, even though it's not going to happen). But the idea that a writer should be able to retain his copyright and make a living is a good one, and not one I'm going to budge on.
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Things should be done as they will yield the most benefits in our age, not in the past. You claim to be for the reworking of copyright, yet you still believe a creator's estate should retain copyright for some time after his/her death? This being about the worst excess of copyright as it currently exists, I cannot imagine what it is you intend to prune from it.