Current authors oulling the ladder up behind them.
The Brothers Grimm works helped Disney, who refuses to allow another Disney in like kind.
FREE THE MOUSE
I had that as a bumper sticker for over a decade. Lots of people asked! Was the best sticker ever. I told the Disney story many, many times.
Interestingly, most people were engaged, asked questions, mostly understood.
"So, that is why we get Terminator 2, 3, 4, 13...?"
What makes sense?
Balance of benefit of author and the public.
Authors need material to work from. Without that, everything will need a clearance of some sort. It is extremely difficult to make entirely new works and have them be compelling enough to reach greater relevance. No public works = tepid new works.
The public wants and benefits from a robust, rich culture. Everything owned = stale, managed culture formed in boardrooms.
Authors need to eat and benefit from their works. These benefits can and should be substantial, depending. No copyright term = dubious value in creative works = starving authors.
0 years breaks creation. Infinity years breaks culture, dilutes overall value to everyone.
100?
It is better than infinity, but where is the sweet spot?
The Brothers Grimm worked under 24 year terms. Disney used those works, once public, only to object and deny others what they got to build from.
And here we are today.
I personally think 40 is pretty great. Others want 0, others want hundreds of years.
I also believe overly long terms will result in counter, protest culture. Won't be easy to monetize, will ignore DRM, law, and will exist to deny the established scheme, because fuck them and their greed. Or something along those lines.
If I have got the facts correct, most authors derive any income from their works in the first 3.5 years. Organisations like Disney et al are not authors but are gatekeepers and hence any benefit that they derive from copyright should be eliminated.
Hence, copyright should be a maximum of 7 years, consisting of 3.5 years initial and a explicitly asked for 3.5 years extension. Go back to the officially request copyright and if not done it is automatically public domain.
This would be the most beneficial to authors and the public as we really need to discount any benefit to the gatekeepers.
There are jurisdictions where an author cannot legally commit his/her work into the public domain as the law forces protections they do not want on to them.
Regarding "FREE THE MOUSE", Disney wouldn't even actually lose the rights to Mickey Mouse at all, right? I'm under the impression that Mickey Mouse is a trademark, and that the copyrighted work in question is the actual Steamboat Willie cartoon. So even if copyright was abolished entirely, Mickey would be just as safe as the Disney trademark itself. Am I wrong?
The Brothers Grimm works helped Disney, who refuses to allow another Disney in like kind.
FREE THE MOUSE
I had that as a bumper sticker for over a decade. Lots of people asked! Was the best sticker ever. I told the Disney story many, many times.
Interestingly, most people were engaged, asked questions, mostly understood.
"So, that is why we get Terminator 2, 3, 4, 13...?"
What makes sense?
Balance of benefit of author and the public.
Authors need material to work from. Without that, everything will need a clearance of some sort. It is extremely difficult to make entirely new works and have them be compelling enough to reach greater relevance. No public works = tepid new works.
The public wants and benefits from a robust, rich culture. Everything owned = stale, managed culture formed in boardrooms.
Authors need to eat and benefit from their works. These benefits can and should be substantial, depending. No copyright term = dubious value in creative works = starving authors.
0 years breaks creation. Infinity years breaks culture, dilutes overall value to everyone.
100?
It is better than infinity, but where is the sweet spot?
The Brothers Grimm worked under 24 year terms. Disney used those works, once public, only to object and deny others what they got to build from.
And here we are today.
I personally think 40 is pretty great. Others want 0, others want hundreds of years.
I also believe overly long terms will result in counter, protest culture. Won't be easy to monetize, will ignore DRM, law, and will exist to deny the established scheme, because fuck them and their greed. Or something along those lines.