Quote:
Originally Posted by GhostHawk
F
Cut copyright back to 10 years. If the author dies give his heirs the same time he had left.
Publishers have 10 years to make their profit off any given book. Most patents run for less time than that.
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Patents last
14 to 20 years.
I've got no problem with a 30-year copyright length. That's long enough to make a profit on the initial book run, wait a couple of years to decide if it's still interesting, get a movie produced (that's often several years), wait to see if it wins any awards, a year for it to come out on DVD and so on, another few years to see if it's worth picking up as a tv series.
I've got no problem letting the initial author get a cut of all that, instead of just the studios. That's a long enough copyright run to encourage the author to write more, and distribute it widely--instead of keeping it to himself, where he wouldn't make as much profit, but also wouldn't see it used in ways he doesn't like.
The purpose of copyright is to encourage distribution to promote progress. Not to allow profit. Length of copyright has to be enough to inspire that sharing--and for many authors & artists, 10 years wouldn't be enough.
What I'd *really* like to see is paid extensions: 15 years copyright for free, +15 more for a $500 registration fee (which you'll do if you think you have any chance of exploiting it in the future), +15 more for a $5000 reg fee (only corporations would bother, for the most part, but an instant classic might get re-registered), and +15 more for $25,000. Every 15 additional years: another $25k. Disney can keep the mouse under lockdown by paying the government--and by extension, the public--for the right to keep the public away from what's supposed to be ours.