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J.G. Ballard Dies at Age 78
jefu writes "J.G. Ballard, an author (of science fiction and other fiction) has died. His works include some of the strangest and most compelling novels ever, including 'The Crystal World,' 'Crash' and 'The Atrocity Exhibition.' For a truly weird read, try his 'Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race," compared with Alfred Jarry's "The Crucifixion Considered as an Uphill Bicycle Race.'" Here is Ballard's obituary at the BBC.
In the eyes of the law it is my property.
That doesn't mean the law is right.
The original purpose of copyright was not to define ownership. It was, like patents, intended to provide a temporary monopoly on a work. And it was designed, not so you could make a profit, but to give you an incentive to create the work in the first place -- with the hopes that it will be in the public domain eventually.
If I produced sculpture all my life, should my sculpture be suddenly public domain at death? How is writing or anything else that takes intellectual effort any different other than it exists in easily reproduced forms?
That is pretty much it. It comes back to this:
The sculpture is a physical object. Physical objects can be property. No one can take your sculpture from you without your permission, because then you wouldn't have a sculpture anymore.
A book is probably more a collection of words. They can't take the original manuscript, but they can at least gain the ability to create copies. But no amount of copying means that you no longer have the book.
The problem is, it's about a right, not about a piece of property, physical or otherwise. Even stranger, it's not about them taking a right away from you -- it's about them giving that right to everyone else.
Frankly, if you want to look after your family, leave them money and/or life insurance. On the other hard, I would be very happy if copyright were a maximum of ten years, and totally transferable through death or otherwise.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!