Quote:
Originally Posted by DawnFalcon
Then that's a problem with implimentation. It's not a problem with the concept as a way of avoiding losing books before their PD date!
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One needs to keep in mind though, that it is possible for books to still exist and still be lost to us. Lets face it, there have been literally millions of published works published in the United States since the Library of Congress was formed. Even if everyone was properly stored by the Library of Congress, cataloging errors, accidents, etc. mean that some of these works might effectively become unavailable -- sure maybe it will be discovered in a few hundred years, but maybe it won't be.
In any case, copyright should not form a type of time vault that essentially protects creative works from being accessed for 40, 60 or a hundred years. I have no particular problem with having mechanisms in place to make sure that works that remain in print can remain under copyright for extended periods. I do have a problem when works that have been out of print for 5-10 years become effectively unavailable to the public because of copyright regulations.
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Bill