Setting copyright to expire after a number of years or months or minutes relies on the assumption that all content has the same lifespan. However, we know a corporation like Disney continues to profit massively from its back catalog of intellectual property. Meanwhile, the next viral music video sensation is a flash in the pan in terms of continuing profitability. And relevance.
Today's copyright terms are too long and much content is irrelevant and forgotten long before the copyright terms have expired. Worse, media that is massively relevant but not profitable is locked up in copyrights and not available. For example, film from the civil rights era. That has long lasting cultural significance and yet much of it is rotting in vaults racing against time for the copyright to expire before the film becomes unusable. But its profitability is very limited, pretty much done after the news reports aired. Copyright terms based on profit would place this material in the public domain, available for documentarians to explore now instead losing our history and picking through the degraded scraps of cellulose decades from now.
An added benefit is that this scheme would end the media companies' messed up accounting practices. If the copyright term is contingent on continued profitability, they have to show profit to renew the copyright. One more bonus, it's taxable now. If they continue their standard practice of cooking the books to avoid showing taxable profits then their copyright expires and their box office smash hit is now public domain.
So that's my modest proposal. Tie copyright terms not to the calendar but to their accounting.
I, too, am a Satan-worshiping antisocial malcontent with an unhealthy dice fetish.
And the plural of dice is DIE!1!! Die, die, die! No, I have no idea where I was going with that.
Anyway, these days I play first-person shooters on a Linux powered gaming PC. So not only am I a horrifically violent mass-murderer, I'm also a dangerous haxx0r since my computer doesn't run Micro$oft Windoze.
It's really more homophone choice than spelling. Merriam-Webster defines it as "standing out so as to be readily perceived; conspicuous." So it could still be correct in that sentence because, to my mind, warfare would be a rather conspicuous activity.
I'd actually reverse that. End 'politician' as a job series; make it a civic responsibility like jury duty. No salary and no pension, only a travel stipend. When they've served their term of office they go back to their day job.
But we'll also apply Acquisition Ethics rules like the DoD has (or a meaningful version of the same). In the DoD, if you had anything to do with a company's success, like being granted (or denied) a contract, you or your family can't work for them for 5 years. You're also forced off the contract approval board if a family member already works for a company bidding on the contract. There's some other stuff as well, like caps on gifts from individual sources and from all sources per year, but that's the gist of it.
So now that there's no more career politicians and the revolving door is locked, a lot of the problems just vanish.
Re: Framing COMPLETELY IGNORES "Who's Screwing You Worse: iTunes Radio, or Pandora..."!!!
two fish
red fish
go away blue
Re: Re: There is a simple way to resolve this...
Copyright expires when the profits dry up.
Setting copyright to expire after a number of years or months or minutes relies on the assumption that all content has the same lifespan. However, we know a corporation like Disney continues to profit massively from its back catalog of intellectual property. Meanwhile, the next viral music video sensation is a flash in the pan in terms of continuing profitability. And relevance.
Today's copyright terms are too long and much content is irrelevant and forgotten long before the copyright terms have expired. Worse, media that is massively relevant but not profitable is locked up in copyrights and not available. For example, film from the civil rights era. That has long lasting cultural significance and yet much of it is rotting in vaults racing against time for the copyright to expire before the film becomes unusable. But its profitability is very limited, pretty much done after the news reports aired. Copyright terms based on profit would place this material in the public domain, available for documentarians to explore now instead losing our history and picking through the degraded scraps of cellulose decades from now.
An added benefit is that this scheme would end the media companies' messed up accounting practices. If the copyright term is contingent on continued profitability, they have to show profit to renew the copyright. One more bonus, it's taxable now. If they continue their standard practice of cooking the books to avoid showing taxable profits then their copyright expires and their box office smash hit is now public domain.
So that's my modest proposal. Tie copyright terms not to the calendar but to their accounting.
Re: Re: Scapegoat du jour
And the plural of dice is DIE!1!! Die, die, die! No, I have no idea where I was going with that.
Anyway, these days I play first-person shooters on a Linux powered gaming PC. So not only am I a horrifically violent mass-murderer, I'm also a dangerous haxx0r since my computer doesn't run Micro$oft Windoze.
Re:
Re: Spelling counts...You know, because first impressions and such...
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Oh, shift from "compete with free" to "at a reasonable price"!
Re:
But we'll also apply Acquisition Ethics rules like the DoD has (or a meaningful version of the same). In the DoD, if you had anything to do with a company's success, like being granted (or denied) a contract, you or your family can't work for them for 5 years. You're also forced off the contract approval board if a family member already works for a company bidding on the contract. There's some other stuff as well, like caps on gifts from individual sources and from all sources per year, but that's the gist of it.
So now that there's no more career politicians and the revolving door is locked, a lot of the problems just vanish.
Re:
Re: Hell? Really?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Edward Snowden is a traitor?
Re: Re:
Re: re post #1
New feature request, Mike?
Re: Hmmm...
(untitled comment)
Re: Re: Re:
someone had to do it
Re: Re: God DAMN it....
Re:
Re: Re:
Re:
More comments from another mike >>
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by another mike.
Submit a story now.
Tools & Services
TwitterFacebook
RSS
Podcast
Research & Reports
Company
About UsAdvertising Policies
Privacy
Contact
Help & FeedbackMedia Kit
Sponsor/Advertise
Submit a Story
More
Copia InstituteInsider Shop
Support Techdirt