Seriously thoughtful How Copyright broke. Cory Doctorow

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Actually, the publisher still benefits. When the author dies and the book then becomes public domain, the publisher can still sell the book. The family gets nothing more from it.

Anyone else can sell the book too, including the family.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's not fair if you write a new book and then you die not long after. So it should be (IMHO) life+15 years.

Yes, it's fair. If you die right after writing the book, you will be beyond caring. And why should your family get the royalties? They didn't write the book.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yes, it's fair. If you die right after writing the book, you will be beyond caring. And why should your family get the royalties? They didn't write the book.

Come to think of it, the plumber gets either paid for their services right away, or you agree to some sort of payment plan. If the plumber dies inbetween, the rest of the owed money goes to the partner / children.

Most authors don't get paid in advance, the royalties they receive from the book are part of the calculation.

In the end, things are often more complex than they seen at first glance. I don't think that copyright should be what it is right now, nor do I think that royalties should set up surviving dependents for the rest of their lives, but it should be more balanced than "if the person dies, all bets are off".

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Anyone else can sell the book too, including the family.

But the publisher alread is selling the book. Already has the website and listing. Already has the book available for sale. So it's a win-win for the publisher as there is no need to give away any profits.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But the publisher alread is selling the book. Already has the website and listing. Already has the book available for sale. So it's a win-win for the publisher as there is no need to give away any profits.

But they can't sell it for the same price they sold it during the author's lifetime. No one would buy a book in the public domain for the price of a newly released copyrighted book. So I imagine the profits from a dead author's work wouldn't be that large.

Anyway, yeah, maybe the better option would be either the life of the creator or 10 years after the first publication, whichever is longer. So if the author dies soon after writing the book, their family would still get something. But copyrights lasting decades after the author's death regardless of the death date are ridiculous.