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> so if the author conks right after her first book her family doesn't starve. If I died one month after starting a new programming job, my employer wouldn't p

> so if the author conks right after her first book her family doesn't starve. If I died one month after starting a new programming job, my employer wouldn't pay a salary to my family for 15 years. I'm not sure why society has to take care of the family of an author but not a programmer.

PhasmaFelis 12y ago
That's not really at all comparable. With writing, unless you get an advance on an unwritten book, you first work for months or years unpaid, and then (if you're lucky) you get an up-front sale payment and then royalties for a while. What would you think if you started a new programming job, kicked the bucket after 29 days, and your employer tried to claim that they didn't have to give your last paycheck to your family because you didn't finish the month? Death or 15 years seems fair to me.
rtpg 12y ago
If you built a house one month after you died, would you expect it to be given to the state? IP is more about property than a job, I think.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > If you built a house one month after you died, Nice trick, that.
- ak217 12y ago
  Most of it, yes, in the form of estate taxes. Unless the heir is a spouse. Hereditary transfer of IP is a bizarre anachronism.
  - JulianK 12y ago
    John Oliver did a bit in his wealth gap segment where he mentioned that, in the US, estate taxes are exempt even to children on amounts up to 5 million, and up to 10 million if it's a couple leaving the amount to their children. General searching around turns up these numbers here and there as well. Assuming that is in fact true, _most_ people shouldn't be giving up anything in estate taxes.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > Most of it, yes, in the form of estate taxes. Estate taxes in the US are 40% and the first ~$5 million in value is exempt. So its impossible to lose most of any estate to estate taxes in the US, and very few estates (0.14% [1]) are subject to any estate tax at all. [1] http://www.cbpp.org/files/estatetaxmyths.pdf http://www.cbpp.org/files/estatetaxmyths.pdf

PhasmaFelis 12y ago

That's not really at all comparable. With writing, unless you get an advance on an unwritten book, you first work for months or years unpaid, and then (if you're lucky) you get an up-front sale payment and then royalties for a while. What would you think if you started a new programming job, kicked the bucket after 29 days, and your employer tried to claim that they didn't have to give your last paycheck to your family because you didn't finish the month? Death or 15 years seems fair to me.

rtpg 12y ago

If you built a house one month after you died, would you expect it to be given to the state? IP is more about property than a job, I think.

dragonwriter 12y ago
> If you built a house one month after you died, Nice trick, that.
ak217 12y ago
Most of it, yes, in the form of estate taxes. Unless the heir is a spouse. Hereditary transfer of IP is a bizarre anachronism.
- JulianK 12y ago
  John Oliver did a bit in his wealth gap segment where he mentioned that, in the US, estate taxes are exempt even to children on amounts up to 5 million, and up to 10 million if it's a couple leaving the amount to their children. General searching around turns up these numbers here and there as well. Assuming that is in fact true, _most_ people shouldn't be giving up anything in estate taxes.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > Most of it, yes, in the form of estate taxes. Estate taxes in the US are 40% and the first ~$5 million in value is exempt. So its impossible to lose most of any estate to estate taxes in the US, and very few estates (0.14% [1]) are subject to any estate tax at all. [1] http://www.cbpp.org/files/estatetaxmyths.pdf http://www.cbpp.org/files/estatetaxmyths.pdf