Andrew Lentvorski wrote:
Todd Walton wrote:
As for me, I'm generally anti-IP, but specifically I can't find
anything egregiously wrong with copyright. If I produce a creative
work, put blood sweat and tears into it, why should somebody profit
from redistributing it without an obligation to pay me for my original
work?
The main issue I have with copyright is that it doesn't deliver any
reverse pain.
My solution to the copyright dilemma is to grant it for 20 years after
initial publication to the original producer without charge and without
filing. After that, an increasing scale of payments is required to
renew it. Say, double the price every 10 years. No upper limit.
This way, everybody gets to decide what a copyright is worth.
This avoids travesties like "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" because it would have
required a payment in 1994 (or so).
Disney can pay for its copyrights ad infinitum. Everything else drops
into public domain in a timely fashion.
-a
[It's nice when I can just quote myself as a reply to something that
comes up here repeatedly (from a similar discussion in Oct, '05):]
"It's functionally not that different than the current system: if you
want your copyright extended beyond the period current law allows, then
you just lobby Congress for as long as needed until you get the law changed.
"That type of influence takes large amounts of money. Large
corporations, which are essentially immortal, have relatively (to the
rest of us) unlimited resources and money, and more importantly, time.
Like the current system, yours also favors the richest copyright holders.
"Once a corporation extends to the 80-year limit, it still has another
20 years to either raise the money, or get the law changed to change the
law and/or fee yet again. Have you been paying no attention to how the
current system is being corrupted by money? Your system will only
increase and exagerrate the current practice of promoting corporate
agendas through lobbying for favorable changes in the law."
"My version [of copyright reform] would be this (or some minor variation):
1. Copyright lasts for the lifetime of the author with the
following exception.
A. Copyright can be inherited only by first generation
heirs (if any) of the author. That is, your kids can hold
your copyright, but not your grandkids.
2. Copyright cannot be created by, transferred to, or held
by a non-human entity (e.g. a corporation, government or
quasi-government organization, private trust, etc.)
3. All copyrights not meeting the above conditions fall into
the domain of public access and use but must still maintain
proper attribution of the original author ("You did not write
that, Samuel Clemens did")."
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
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