Copyright terms need to be reformed, but 10 years is far too short. Right now almost nothing is entering the Public domain and that's wrong, the books/music/movies of my parents and grandparents are still under copyright.
Happy Brthday shows the problems with the system. A killer law review article titled "Copyright and the World's Most Popular Song" traces how a Happy Birthday to You started out life as Good Morning to All a song with the same melody but different words, written as a classroom greeting by two teachers in the 1890's is still under copyright. It's one of the best things I read in 2012 and readable by a non lawyer.
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/rbrauneis/happybirthday.htm
The first copyright law in the english language, the Statute of Anne from 1710 had a term of 14 years renewable for another 14 years. Under those terms things like StarWars would be entering the public domain, which given where it is in culture and the profits lucas has seen sound about right.
Going to 10 years would mean that most authors/comic book creators would NEVER see movie option money and film studios wouldn't
I'm not entirely against long-term copyrights, but I'm not for them either. If a company/individual still rakes an exorbitant cashflow from a given copyrighted work, why not let them keep it? Let's make the law smarter. Initial copyright is free (14 yrs); first renewal is free (+4 yrs); subsequent renewals (every four years) increase in cost exponentionally (e.g., $2^n where n is the number of renewals): if a work is still profitable after 20 years, why not extend it another four? However, for a work to be profitable under these extension guidelines after sixty or eighty years it would have to be a monumental work indeed. This also allows less profitable works to fall into the public domain more quickly.
The other issue with our current copyright law is lost works: works where the rightsholder can no longer be found or even identified. This should be changed vis a vis copyright registration - register a work and after the copyright expires it is published freely online in a digital fashion.
Comments
Copyright terms need to be reformed, but 10 years is far too short. Right now almost nothing is entering the Public domain and that's wrong, the books/music/movies of my parents and grandparents are still under copyright.
Happy Brthday shows the problems with the system. A killer law review article titled "Copyright and the World's Most Popular Song" traces how a Happy Birthday to You started out life as Good Morning to All a song with the same melody but different words, written as a classroom greeting by two teachers in the 1890's is still under copyright. It's one of the best things I read in 2012 and readable by a non lawyer. http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/rbrauneis/happybirthday.htm
The first copyright law in the english language, the Statute of Anne from 1710 had a term of 14 years renewable for another 14 years. Under those terms things like StarWars would be entering the public domain, which given where it is in culture and the profits lucas has seen sound about right.
Going to 10 years would mean that most authors/comic book creators would NEVER see movie option money and film studios wouldn't
I'm not entirely against long-term copyrights, but I'm not for them either. If a company/individual still rakes an exorbitant cashflow from a given copyrighted work, why not let them keep it? Let's make the law smarter. Initial copyright is free (14 yrs); first renewal is free (+4 yrs); subsequent renewals (every four years) increase in cost exponentionally (e.g., $2^n where n is the number of renewals): if a work is still profitable after 20 years, why not extend it another four? However, for a work to be profitable under these extension guidelines after sixty or eighty years it would have to be a monumental work indeed. This also allows less profitable works to fall into the public domain more quickly.
The other issue with our current copyright law is lost works: works where the rightsholder can no longer be found or even identified. This should be changed vis a vis copyright registration - register a work and after the copyright expires it is published freely online in a digital fashion.