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The Economist: Cut copyright terms to 14 years, renewable once
July 1, 2005 | 12:00 am
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By David Rothman
“A first, useful step would be a drastic reduction of copyright back to its original terms–14 years, renewable once,” the Economist says in an article on U.S. copyright law. In a perfect world, the article would be “must” reading for John Edwards and his booster Paul Jones.
“This should provide media firms plenty of chance to earn profits, and consumers plenty of opportunity to rip, mix, burn their back catalogues without breaking the law,” the Economist says of the above proposal in Rip. Mix. Burn.
Wow. At least for books and movies, that actually would be too short a term in my opinion. I’m sure many and perhaps most of my friends would disagree. But some books of permanent value, such as The Power Broker, can take many years to write and research.
That said, the Economist unwittingly makes Prof. Edwards look all the more like a wimp for not even bothering to speak out against the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. Unlike Prof. Edwards, the Economist hasn’t gotten campaign donations from Hollywood. I’d welcome Prof. Edwards declaring his independence of the special interests that contributed to him.
Reminder: The TeleBlog keeps picking on Prof. Edwards because he has portrayed himself as a populist–while maintaining an elitist silence on copyright matters. He formerly served on the copyright-related Judiciary Committee in the Senate. Edwards cheerleader Paul Jones runs the ibiblio archives storing Project Gutenberg books–the very stuff that the Bono Act has harmed. Why is Paul refusing to speak out in an Edwards context? Shouldn’t The Right Thing matter more than loyalty to a fellow faculty member at the University of North Carolina who I suspect may also be a friend of Jones? Hey, I might support Prof. Edwards himself for ’08 if he’d show some guts on copyright issues. We’re talking not just about copyright but about a character test. Who counts more for John Edwards–the public or Hollywood donors?
Related: A Canadian’s linking of the poverty and copyright issues. I’m not the only one. Prof. Edwards, of course, heads an anti-poverty center at UNC.
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Comments:
I disagree with you. I believe that 7 years ought to be the limit. You bring out a book, and you sell, sell, sell. Most sales of books are tapered off by year 3, and you get very few sales after that (if the book doesn’t just go out of print).
Yeah, it may take years to write a book – which is why authors should be allowed to write off expenses (which has been changed in the last 10 years, iirc) from their incomes, during the writing process. But those authors do make stuff back when they sell their works – sometimes they make it, sometimes not. That’s the same as any business. And investment and planning are key parts of other businesses, even if they’re cyclic: Like processors for computers, like video game cartridges, etc.
– Ender, Duke_of_URL