Slashdot Mirror
Opening the Public Doman to Orphan Books
InklingBooks writes "In the late 1990s, when Hollywood paid an all-too-willing Congress to extend copyright terms to 90 years, an existing problem grew much worse. Many out-of-print books, including some SciFi classics, became orphans. Though still "protected" by copyright, there was no one around who could give legal permission to publish them. Their author were dead, and it was expensive and often impossible to find out who (if anyone) now owned their literary estates. Fortunately, the Copyright Office is now taking comments on how the law might be changed. See Orphan Works."
Kill all PACs and Politicians. Problem solved.
Which problem? The problem of granting a reasonable exclusive copy-right to authors without allowing for abuse? Your solution doesn't solve this at all.
In that way, rather than them reporting that they received 5 comments, 4 of which were from Big Media and 1 from some cranky old bastard from North Dakota, they will have to acknowledge that it is an issue of great public interest and they will have well reasoned comments to base further work on.
Speaking as someone who has a regulatory role (in a completely different arena that is not relevant), well written submissions that are not hyperbolic or impractical can be persuasive. The more of them there are, the better.
Excellent idea. I've heard it before, but can't recall where. It is definitely a problem with older books that are virtually impossible to find, but can't be reprinted (or in this modern age, scanned and put online).
The last copyright extension allowed an exception allowing libraries to copy books in the last 20 years of their copyright if new editions are unavailable, but practically speaking this will have little effect. Something much better is required.
The U.S. is obligated by international treaty to a minimum copyright period - I'm thinking it is 28 years? but beyond that, registration of copyrighted material with a fee of $1 per year would be sufficient to make most orphaned materials available. A maximum period of 100 years would also be preferable to the current Life of the Author plus 70 years, which considering the past performance of Congress is liable to become Life of the Author plus forever.
Michael Hart has frequently noted that over 90% of profits come in the first 6 years of a book's publication. Considering that (under U.S. law) the purpose of Copyright is to encourage the arts and sciences, the current law is clearly a joke.
Baldur
Why don't you make these comments to the site instead of here. Or at least in both places. I don't think the Copyright Office is going to come here to read the comments.