Comments on: Public Domain Day: 2009 http://www.teleread.com/copy-right/public-domain-day-2009/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:13:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: P Smith http://www.teleread.com/copy-right/public-domain-day-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-998714 P Smith Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:00:18 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=14959#comment-998714 The US's excessively protective copyright laws - enacted on behalf of Disney and other publishers - are selfish and hypocritical. How many books and stories in the public domain have Disney and others used to generate profit and yet are then protected almost indefinitely? If it weren't illegal to do so, I would advocate civil disobedience when it comes to copyright: obey the laws as they once were, and treat any works over 50 years old as public domain. The current US laws (first 75 years, now 90) weren't written to protect artists, they were written to protect corporations which seek to make excessive profits off the artists' work. The US’s excessively protective copyright laws – enacted on behalf of Disney and other publishers – are selfish and hypocritical. How many books and stories in the public domain have Disney and others used to generate profit and yet are then protected almost indefinitely?

If it weren’t illegal to do so, I would advocate civil disobedience when it comes to copyright: obey the laws as they once were, and treat any works over 50 years old as public domain. The current US laws (first 75 years, now 90) weren’t written to protect artists, they were written to protect corporations which seek to make excessive profits off the artists’ work.

]]> By: Rob Preece http://www.teleread.com/copy-right/public-domain-day-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-997471 Rob Preece Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:19:34 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=14959#comment-997471 The public domain is a resource and Gutenberg and others do a wonderful service in making it available. However, part of the 'tragedy of the commons' is that when a book enters the public domain, it becomes worth nobody's while to invest in it, to make it available. Surely we don't want the public domain to be ten best-sellers and millions of unread masterpieces. I wonder what we book-lovers can do to help the really special works of the past shine again, rather than fall into obscurity. Rob Preece Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com The public domain is a resource and Gutenberg and others do a wonderful service in making it available. However, part of the ‘tragedy of the commons’ is that when a book enters the public domain, it becomes worth nobody’s while to invest in it, to make it available. Surely we don’t want the public domain to be ten best-sellers and millions of unread masterpieces.

I wonder what we book-lovers can do to help the really special works of the past shine again, rather than fall into obscurity.

Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com

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