Tom Vogt wrote:
> > > anonymous' view is too drastic, but I guess that he's more
> > > close to home as far as copyright AS A BUSINESS is concerned. I
> > > don't remember any multinational corporations living entirely on
> > > (C) in, say, 1928.
Vin McLellan replied:
> > In the 1920s, all over the industrialized world, there were large,
> > well-established, "third-party" corporate entities which invested in the
> > the creation, "publication," and distribution of radio broadcasts,
> > photographs, sound recordings on cylinders and records, even moving
> > pictures -- although, at least in the US, it often took a few years for
> > new media to gain full copyright protection.
Tom responded:
>I stand corrected. I had put these into the distribution business, not
>the (C) biz, especially since they provided something the general public
>was not capable of producing themselves (which is not the case with CDs
>or tapes today). however, I must agree that without (C), this industry
>would most likely not have existed in the form it did.
Vin:
> > No one shouldn't be afraid of copyright (or patents, IMNSHO.) I
> suggest,
> > however, that we should be very concerned with the steady erosion in the
> > public claim to eventual free access.
> >
> > In the US, at least, no copyright held by a corporation has
> been given
> > over to the public domain since WWI -- and, Tom's suggestion to the
> > contrary, there were many of them in corporate hands even then;-)
>
Tom:
>are there any sources for this?
None I have readily available, but any real copyright expert
should be able to confirm it.
Tom:
>maybe one should go the opposite way. how about drafting a suggestion
>for an extension of (C) to eternity? let's just grant (C) protection
>forever. that should make people listen to why (C) is limited. I'm
>afraid nobody knows those reasons anymore.
I agree that the case for "public domain" is seldom made, except
in the perverted argument for content/media piracy through "fair use."
I heartily agree that public policy debate (and the legislation
that results) is much the poorer because of its absence.
Suerte,
_Vin
