[Gllug] Re: Anti-DRM event

[Jason Clifford]

On Mon, 2 Oct 2006, Christopher Currie wrote:

> Moreover given that the great majority of copyright works are created by 
> authors working for employers, it is clearly not true that authors need the 
> incentive of lifetime plus 90 years' protection. All they need is the 
> incentive of a salary secure for whatever the minimum period most authors' 
> salaries are secure for; and clearly the employer doesn't need life plus 90 
> years' security to provide them with that salary.

You are making the same error that those who argue for long copyright make 
- you are looking on the issue with an apparent assumption that copyright 
is the same across the board but it should not be.

Copyright on software and other materials with a relatively short shelf 
life does not need to be very long at all however the protection for small 
recording artists does need to be longer as they often only get real 
income over the longer term - particularly those signed to large media 
companies who take almost all the profits in the immediate timeframe.

Copyright needs to be scaled properly to meet the specifics of the type of 
material being protected.

One thing I feel strongly though - copyright should be a fixed term and 
should never exceed the lifespan of the original author or 10 years if 
that is longer (so as to allow the author's estate a reasonable chance).

Lifespan plus 70 years is downright stupid.

Jason
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