Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
Current copyright law does recognize the financial interests of the artists (e.g. http://www.copyright.gov/title17/circ92.pdf, § 801) and it's very clear that recent changes in US law, at least, intend to protect an artists' commercial interests. It is very typical for a law to grow beyond its initial scope, especially when the subject of that law takes on a different role or presence in society as time goes on. |
Its fine for copyright law to take the financial interests of artists into account. Indeed, it is that interest that is one of the means by which copyright obtains it goal. That being said, if copyright law ignores its primary purpose -- to get works into the public domain -- then I think an argument can be made that such a law would no longer be constitutional in the United States. Certainly, at that point, copyright laws in the United States would loose any moral authority that they might still retain.
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Bill