Public Domain Enhancement Act petition

EricEldred writes "Please sign the petition and support the proposed Public Domain Enhancement Act. See eldred.cc for details. 'This statute would require American copyright owners to pay a very low fee (for example, $1) fifty years after a copyrighted work was published. If the owner pays the fee, the copyright will continue for whatever duration Congress sets. But if the copyright is not worth even $1 to the owner, then we believe the work should pass into the public domain.'" See the brief description of the Act if you aren't familiar with what Eldred and Lessig are proposing.

Comments

Dumb idea

[Jesus IS the Devil]

Again the would-be socialists have come up with a bird-brained idea based on "good" intentions. Has it ever occurred to these guys where this money would go to? Out of a month, I have to work a whole damn week for free just for the government, and now this? If anything, we should all have learned that government is one of the world's most inefficient entities, what with their pork-barrel spending, the $600 toilets, lack of competition and accountability, etc.

I hope these guys also realize that the big corporations will have no trouble paying this fee. The true victims are the little guys doing hard work. You think Disney will even flinch when paying to keep the rights of Steamboat Willie in perpetuity?

Again I stress, out here in the REAL world, intentions don't matter. It's all about the end result that counts.

Property rights shouldn't even cost $1 / yr...

[samrolken]

Intellectual property rights are derived directly from the rights of people, as individuals, to own what they create. Those rights should not cost anything. No government or screaming mass of people has the right to take away property rights from the individuals who create.