[okfn-discuss] CC and copyright reform

Wed Oct 30 19:12:58 UTC 2013

Copyright is an important feature of copyleft, so I would not wish to see it
abolished entirely.

Patents last 20 years (after what becomes a substantial fee). Mostly,
anything after 20 years is discounted out by investors (even blockbuster
movie investors). Originally, I think it was 7 years, then 14, and I would
be comfortable with this or 21.

But you would have a big battle with the rent seeking corporations who have
inherited a legacy they can milk - at least for as long as they can bribe
legislatures. Outbribing them would be prohibitively expensive, so the case
has to be an ethical / political one.

Cheers

D

David Hirst

Mobile:  +44 7831 405443

From: okfn-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org
[mailto:okfn-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of Aaron Wolf
Sent: 30 October 2013 17:07
To: Open Knowledge Foundation discussion list
Subject: Re: [okfn-discuss] CC and copyright reform

Copyright shouldn't exist at all, but if we want to push for a lowered time,
it should not be pegged to one's death, it should be a set time. Otherwise,
it provides perverse incentives around people dying.

--
Aaron Wolf
wolftune.com <http://wolftune.com/> 

On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 8:15 AM, Mark Wainwright <mark.wainwright at okfn.org>
wrote:

The statement doesn't mention the aspect in most pressing need of
reform, which is the preposterous 70-year term of copyright after the
death of the author. What is the purpose of copyright? If it's to
protect an artist's livelihood, artistic integrity, etc, there is no
need for it to last five minutes after her death. I can see a weak
argument for extending it for a few years to protect dependents (will
someone please think of the children ...), not that the dependents of
doctors or builders or plumbers have the same luxury, but anyway, that
would justify 10 years, not 70 by which time the artist's children are
probably dead of old age.

To me this is an indication that copyright policy has been captured by
corporate interests and is not made in the best interests of society
at large. Thoughts?

Mark

On 16/10/2013, Timothy Vollmer <tvol at creativecommons.org> wrote:
> FYI - CC community issues policy statement in support of fundamental
> copyright reform
>
> Blog post: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/39639
>
> Direct link to statement: https://creativecommons.org/about/reform
>

--
Business development and user engagement manager
The Open Knowledge Foundation
Empowering through Open Knowledge
http://okfn.org/  |  @okfn  |  http://ckan.org  |  @CKANproject

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