4 ms·
Disagree on the decade. There are plenty of examples of great movies or other works that took longer than a decade to bring to the public. Those projects would
by MoonWalk 7mo ago
Disagree on the decade. There are plenty of examples of great movies or other works that took longer than a decade to bring to the public. Those projects would have been completely non-viable if their content could have been stolen after creators put a decade into their development.
I think 25 or even 50 years is more defensible. But 100? Nah.
But the crushing problem today for many of us here is SOFTWARE PATENTS. These should never have been allowed in the first place; and until their scourge is abolished, everyone is at risk for having his work stolen with one.
- dawnerd 7mo agoWe should do a split system where its like life of artist or 25 years, whichever is longer. Seems like a good balance for the artists estate too.
- bombcar 7mo agoThe usual way to do that is to have renewals or other periods; then things that are abandoned fall out of copyright, but things that the author is alive to protect remain in. It's moderately hard to build a law based on what people think is "fair" mainly because fairness often has more to do with feelings (it would be fair for someone to make a Hobbit movie because the author is long dead; it would be unfair for someone to make a Potter movie because the author is alive, etc) than with an easily quantifiable rule. I've often thought the solution is to define copyright (of things published, not trade secrets and unpublished works) as being something that can ONLY be defended as long as the work is "available" in the marketplace for "reasonable" amounts. As long as Warner Bros or whoever it is keeps selling the Lord of the Rings (extended edition) on DVD or whatever, they can j'accuse infringers of downloading it. But ten years after it's no longer in print? No longer in copyright, either.
- MrDrMcCoy 7mo agoWhat about 10 years, then compulsory licensing goes into effect for any remaining duration and renewal?
- robhlt 7mo agoThe timer on copyright starts once a work is published, not when the work is first started. So works that spend a decade or more in development would be unaffected by this.
- MoonWalk 6mo agoDepends on what you mean by "published." If I'm shopping a script around, it's copyrighted when I'm done writing it. People may start seeing it right way, but it could take years to find a home and then get made.