Quote:
Originally Posted by ShellShock
I don't understand the justification for copyright extending beyond the death of the author, and I think there is a moral argument for being able to copy books where the author is no longer alive to be deprived of any royalties. It is not clear to me why an author's descendants should benefit from the sale of works which they had no hand in producing.
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But by that logic, you wouldn't allow the children to inherit money, houses or anything else--because they had no hand in producing those things. The author probably feels pretty strongly that she wants her children to benefit from her work--whether that is passing along money or copyright to be used as the children are able. In some cases this may mean the children are able to sell film rights--what if the author dies young? What if the children are small and need the income from the books to survive? Moral suddenly becomes necessity.