Book People Archive

Re: [WP editorial] Copyright Craziness


 Thanks John....well the special case is clearly valid..but I don't
think the law for millions of people should be based on a special case......
I could be picky and have a go at the special case too (sure-fire best
seller from someone who hasn't already made a few bucks? etc)...but it's
more that as you say quite rightly a decent term after death would
provide adequately....it's just a law that ran away with the rider.....

Cheers
Tony

p.s. Copyright on 'How Much is That Doggie' should be indefinite if
it deters people from copying it and playing it.....!!!!! ha ha..I only
just got it out of my head after all these years and now.....

> [...] Suppose that I've got six months to live, much to the dismay
> of my spouse and infant son, who will have little to live on once
> I'm gone. But I've also thought of a plan for a novel that's sure to be
> a best-seller. If copyright survives my death, I can put all my energy
> into the novel, and help support my family with the royalties,
> even if I won't be around to enjoy them myself. Hence, the copyright
> provides me an incentive to write, and therefore promotes the
> progress of the arts.

> Mind you, even in this case it would almost certainly
> suffice for the copyright to last for 25 years after my demise. [...]

> As Pete Seeger said for a New York Times article,
> "The grandchildren should be able to find some other way to make a living,
> even if their grandfather did write 'How Much Is That Doggie in the Window.'"
> (Copyright to that song, by the way, is now scheduled to last until
> the end of 2047.)