Didn't get around to responding to this beforehand...
I haven't signed this (yet)... On the one hand I think life plus seventy years is wrong... but on the other, I think fifty years is wrong too. Cliff Richard has been complaining that it means his income from his earlier works is going to dry up, and whilst I disagree with his contention that copyright should be life plus ninety years, I agree with his original point.
Now, one could ask why he should be able to continue gaining income from something he did fifty years ago, but I think to an extent that is another question. This is how our copyright system works: artists get royalties for something they did in the past.
From my philosophical perspective I think both literary and recorded copyright should be no more than life plus twenty-five years. I agree strongly with the contention that works should be able to pass eventually into the public domain; but I disagree with that that copyright should last so little time artists loss copyright on their own works in their own lifetime.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-12-17 03:05 pm (UTC)I haven't signed this (yet)... On the one hand I think life plus seventy years is wrong... but on the other, I think fifty years is wrong too. Cliff Richard has been complaining that it means his income from his earlier works is going to dry up, and whilst I disagree with his contention that copyright should be life plus ninety years, I agree with his original point.
Now, one could ask why he should be able to continue gaining income from something he did fifty years ago, but I think to an extent that is another question. This is how our copyright system works: artists get royalties for something they did in the past.
From my philosophical perspective I think both literary and recorded copyright should be no more than life plus twenty-five years. I agree strongly with the contention that works should be able to pass eventually into the public domain; but I disagree with that that copyright should last so little time artists loss copyright on their own works in their own lifetime.
Thoughts?