When our founding fathers created the copyright they did it to encourage the spread of ideas. Copyrights, like patents, only lasted 14 years. Hollywood changed all that and every 5 years or so they extend copy right by 5 years.
The result? Millions of books have been locked in paper prisons rotting into oblivion.
History of Copyright
Here is a great video by Lawrence Lessig that covers the history of copyright:
What Do You Think?
Leave a comment and let us know how you feel. Does the current copyright system need to be reformed?
Personally, I think it’s a revolutionary idea. The digital age has in large part made copyrights both impractical and archaic. It’s always been my opinion that the “locks” put on software and even some music is ridiculous and unfair to consumers. If someone purchases a product, it should then be his to do with what he wants, including making copies to share with friends, family, etc. I understand and support the reasoning behind copyrights (no one wants to see someone else ripping off their hard work and making mega bucks off it). But too many companies – and now authors – are crippling themselves by making their products too difficult or expensive for consumers to maintain.
I think Creative Commons has done yeoman’s work on thinking through the issues and implications of copyright in the digital age. Thanks for sharing this video. Where was this lecture given originally?
BTW I tried to subscribe to your newsletter on the link above and got an error message.
The purest form of copyright, one that I believe authors and publishers should get behind, is the form that protects existing works from being stolen, rebranded, and resold. That is, if I write a book called “Connect the Dots”, nobody should be allowed to take the text, rename it “Connect the Points” (or anything else) and sell it.
That *doesn’t* mean that it should be illegal to read my work, be inspired by it, write a unique book called “Connect the Points” and sell it – but that’s what we’ve got now with terms like “derivative work” floating through the copyright laws of the most litigious society on the planet.
Some go further than that to say that copyright in any form should be abolished, but I disagree. I think that it should be the author’s prerogative to protect the work that he creates – which is to say that for as long as the author (not the author’s kids, spouse or estate) is around, the author should be able to decide how the work he has created should be treated.
To that end, it is my belief that only human beings, not companies, should be able to own copyrights, and when those humans die, whatever they created should go into the public domain. While I realize that companies like Disney wouldn’t be able to exist in their current form were that the situation… I’m okay with that.
“It was a lawyer-free zone” – that’s my favorite quote of the presentation. Well done.
Trisha
on April 3, 2014 at 5:55 pm
Totally agree with Daniel. Greedy corporations and lawyers have ruined it all.
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Personally, I think it’s a revolutionary idea. The digital age has in large part made copyrights both impractical and archaic. It’s always been my opinion that the “locks” put on software and even some music is ridiculous and unfair to consumers. If someone purchases a product, it should then be his to do with what he wants, including making copies to share with friends, family, etc. I understand and support the reasoning behind copyrights (no one wants to see someone else ripping off their hard work and making mega bucks off it). But too many companies – and now authors – are crippling themselves by making their products too difficult or expensive for consumers to maintain.
I think Creative Commons has done yeoman’s work on thinking through the issues and implications of copyright in the digital age. Thanks for sharing this video. Where was this lecture given originally?
BTW I tried to subscribe to your newsletter on the link above and got an error message.
Sorry about that.
The email subscription should be working now.
To my mind, copyright has been perverted.
The purest form of copyright, one that I believe authors and publishers should get behind, is the form that protects existing works from being stolen, rebranded, and resold. That is, if I write a book called “Connect the Dots”, nobody should be allowed to take the text, rename it “Connect the Points” (or anything else) and sell it.
That *doesn’t* mean that it should be illegal to read my work, be inspired by it, write a unique book called “Connect the Points” and sell it – but that’s what we’ve got now with terms like “derivative work” floating through the copyright laws of the most litigious society on the planet.
Some go further than that to say that copyright in any form should be abolished, but I disagree. I think that it should be the author’s prerogative to protect the work that he creates – which is to say that for as long as the author (not the author’s kids, spouse or estate) is around, the author should be able to decide how the work he has created should be treated.
To that end, it is my belief that only human beings, not companies, should be able to own copyrights, and when those humans die, whatever they created should go into the public domain. While I realize that companies like Disney wouldn’t be able to exist in their current form were that the situation… I’m okay with that.
“It was a lawyer-free zone” – that’s my favorite quote of the presentation. Well done.
Totally agree with Daniel. Greedy corporations and lawyers have ruined it all.