When Hollywood lobbies for extended copyright and pangs for the eternal variety, studios might consider some unintended side effects—for instance, heirs with nasty conditions on use of artistic properties such as plays and books. Here’s a still-under-copyright example out of France, as described in the New York Times:
“Since Bernard-Marie Koltès died in 1989 at 41, his reputation as a playwright has continued to grow. In February, for the first time, one of his plays, ‘Le Retour au Désert,’ entered the repertory of the Comédie-Française, the historic Paris theater popularly known as the House of Molière.
“Yet soon after Muriel Mayette’s production of the play opened there, Mr. Koltès’s brother, François, who owns the copyright to his works, ordered that it be taken off the stage on June 7 after just 30 performances. The reason? The Algerian character, Aziz, is not being played by an Algerian, as stipulated by the playwright.”
Related:Wikipedia on Bernard-Marie Koltès. Also see writer Maud Newton’s arguments against eternal copyright. My favorite Newton snippet: “We all know the ’98 copyright extensions were enacted to benefit Disney, yet you didn’t see old Walt trying to track down the descendants of the Brothers Grimm to give them their fair share for Cinderella.” Newton, by the way, is a former tax attorney.
"@Mary That's correct. You can choose to convert to whichever formats you wish using programs such as calibre. We are providing pub and pdf formats ..."
When Hollywood lobbies for extended copyright and pangs for the eternal variety, studios might consider some unintended side effects—for instance, heirs with nasty conditions on use of artistic properties such as plays and books. Here’s a still-under-copyright example out of France, as described in the New York Times:
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