10 ms·

A lot of businesses benefit from expired patents. Any business that uses technology would be impossible if patents never expired. No business really benefits t

A lot of businesses benefit from expired patents. Any business that uses technology would be impossible if patents never expired. No business really benefits that much from expired copyright. When Disney lobbies to extend copyright, who is going to spend millions to fight them?

baldfat 10y ago
> who is going to spend millions to fight them? I am hopping one day everyone will be feed up and there will be millions in funding. Personally I don't think this gets fixed till we can give special copyright to Disney and other corporations and free up the other 99.5% of copyright.
- ImSkeptical 10y ago
  That seems like a great compromise. Pay a ten million dollar fee to extend your copyright by ten years. Most material becomes public domain, some exceptionally valuable properties remain privately held and generate value for the holder. Plus, we get some additional tax revenue.
Pyxl101 10y ago
> Any business that uses technology would be impossible if patents never expired. Not completely true. Businesses could exist even with indefinite patents by licensing them (see MP3 patent).
- matt4077 10y ago
  But the tech stack is much deeper than derivative works ever could be. Some derivate three generations down from Donald Duck is probably no longer a derivative of it, judged by current standards. But the computer I'm using right now could reasonably be covered by tens of thousands of patents all the way back to the origins of metallurgy, if those didn't expire.
CM30 10y ago
In theory, one of the large tech companies affected by these laws could do it. I mean, Google's been affected by this in regards to everything from search to Youtube. If they wanted to, I'm sure they could spend far more than Disney on lobbying. This feels like a fight that Silicon Valley companies should take on.

10 ms·

A lot of businesses benefit from expired patents. Any business that uses technology would be impossible if patents never expired. No business really benefits t

by Houshalter 10y ago

baldfat 10y ago
> who is going to spend millions to fight them? I am hopping one day everyone will be feed up and there will be millions in funding. Personally I don't think this gets fixed till we can give special copyright to Disney and other corporations and free up the other 99.5% of copyright.
- ImSkeptical 10y ago
  That seems like a great compromise. Pay a ten million dollar fee to extend your copyright by ten years. Most material becomes public domain, some exceptionally valuable properties remain privately held and generate value for the holder. Plus, we get some additional tax revenue.
Pyxl101 10y ago
> Any business that uses technology would be impossible if patents never expired. Not completely true. Businesses could exist even with indefinite patents by licensing them (see MP3 patent).
- matt4077 10y ago
  But the tech stack is much deeper than derivative works ever could be. Some derivate three generations down from Donald Duck is probably no longer a derivative of it, judged by current standards. But the computer I'm using right now could reasonably be covered by tens of thousands of patents all the way back to the origins of metallurgy, if those didn't expire.
CM30 10y ago
In theory, one of the large tech companies affected by these laws could do it. I mean, Google's been affected by this in regards to everything from search to Youtube. If they wanted to, I'm sure they could spend far more than Disney on lobbying. This feels like a fight that Silicon Valley companies should take on.