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Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
Commercially breeding perennial plants is not easy, and very much a numbers game, with or without patents. I consider it painting with DNA, instead of ink or oil.
All copyright is a numbers game. I don't consider a work good or bad, but popular or unpopular. A work could be held in extreme esteem but a small group (a "cult classic") and ignored the the mass public (or even actively disliked by the mass public). I won't say this it's a bad work, just unpopular. and Vice Versa.
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Ok, popular is a better word, I agree with that.
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Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
So the question to me is, why does the Patent world work so well, (with the patent trolls being the function equivalent of "pirates") at a length of 20 years. (Look around, do you see a shortage of inventiveness?) But the copyright world has to have a term longer than Lex Luthar in the Superman movies. Everything in the US was written under a max of 56 Years of less until 1976. Explain to me how (for example) Elvis, Hemmingway, Maxfield Parrish, or Humphrey Bogart didn't create because their right didn't go on long enough.
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I have stated repeatedly that I agree copyright needs to be amended. Primarily because it goes far too long. I'm not arguing, and never have, that copyright should stay the same or that it is perfect as it is.
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Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
Pure land grab. So while corporations are "stealing" my patrimony though excessive length copyright, other people are "stealing" things back. And as McCauley noted in 1841, they aren't being too fussy about what they steal, either...
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It's the "aren't being too fussy about what they steal, either...." bit that annoys me.
Lets be really honest here, those who engage in the act of "file-sharing" are not the least interested in
reforming copyright. They are not confining their activities to only older works that they consider should be out of copyright, lets say even works over 20 years old(to line up with patents). They pirate(file-share, whatever) popular things. That is, generally, things that are brand new or recently created or have gotten such a wide following as to still be popular some years after creation.
Now, it's not even the little amount of piracy that goes on now that concerns me. As I have stated previously, I do believe it is relatively minor, has a relatively minor impact on overall sales and that most people are happy to pay a fair price for a decent product.
What concerns me is this idea put forward by many that since it's digital media and therefore pretty much in infinite supply, it should just be free altogether. How many flower breeders would or could continue to breed new varieties of flowers if they had to just give them all away for free?
Cheeres,
PKFFW