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I was confused about the comment on Sherlock Holmes, apparently you do not need a license fee anymore (but this is as of 2014) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/sm

I was confused about the comment on Sherlock Holmes, apparently you do not need a license fee anymore (but this is as of 2014) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/sherlock-holmes-now-officially-copyright-and-open-business-180951794/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/sherlock-holmes-no... The length of copyright is insane. I think the US founding fathers had it right. 14 years plus the ability to extend another 14 years. I'd be fine with another extension or 2, with each extension getting more expensive. (Like $1k for first extension, $10k for 2nd, and $100k for 3rd). Heck I'd actually be ok with it keeping going so a 4th extension costs $1M, 5th costs $10m, and so on so you could have people with 100 year long copyright if they were willing to pay for it.

JJMcJ 4y ago
Sherlock Holmes stories are interesting. The last ones were published in 1929 IIRC. So there are still some under copyright, and so Doyle's literary estate is still claiming some rights. Mid 20th Century, the term was 28 years with a 28 year extension. Let's see, 56 years ago is 1966, so a whole lotta goodies would be public domain under that regime. Now it's life of author plus 70 years. So a 22 year old writes a book, lives to 92, then another 70 years. So it's in copyright for 140 years. That seems like a long time.