Breakfast with a presidential candidate
Ken D'Ambrosio
ken at flyingtoasters.net
Tue Jan 6 10:08:11 EST 2004
Mark Komarinski wrote:
> As a high level idea, a sane IP policy would be really nice.
>
>Copyright extension overhaul, more money to PTO to do real research on
>upcoming patents, remove patents on software, and repeal that stupid DMCA.
>
>In all honesty, I think Disney should be able to keep their trademark on
>Mickey Mouse and "Steamboat Willie". Something maybe like treating
>copyrights like trademarks after a certain amount of time would be
>appropriate. This would allow Disney to keep their copyrights, but let
>other IP (old ROMs, for example) to drop into the public domain.
>
>
*wades in with more than a little trepidation* Sorry, but I have to
disagree. I think copyrights are all well and good -- really! But I
think that, eventually, all copyrighted material should enter the public
domain. Let's be honest: how much $$$ is (say) Disney making off of
Steamboat Williie? Or -anything- over 50 years old? [Oh. Sorry. _90_
years old. Thanks, Sonny.] I guess classics like Snow White will
always be a revenue generator to some extent, but I bet they pale in
comparison to the next Pixar release. And the current 90 years (or 70
for individuals), is too much. Let's look at it from the perspective of
a writer (say, Stephen King). He dies at the average white male age of
78. 70 years _LATER_, his stuff becomes public domain. In other words
(some assumptions involved here), his great-great-great-grand-children
will never reap the fiscal rewards from the reselling of his copyrighted
works. Bah! Copyrights are meant to protect the writer, and
(presumably) his immediate family; that's why they were initially so
much shorter. Due to bozos like Bono, however, and the industries
involved, they got much, much longer, with ever-diminishing rewards, but
like Smaug, refuse to give even a trinket.
See http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec02/copyright.html
for some add'l info.
$.02 + S&H,
-Ken
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