The Economist Weighs In For Shorter Copyright Terms

lxmota writes "The Economist says that long copyright terms are hindering creativity, and that shortening them is the way to go: 'Largely thanks to the entertainment industry's lawyers and lobbyists, copyright's scope and duration have vastly increased. In America, copyright holders get 95 years' protection as a result of an extension granted in 1998, derided by critics as the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act." They are now calling for even greater protection, and there have been efforts to introduce similar terms in Europe. Such arguments should be resisted: it is time to tip the balance back.'"

Comments

Re:Who reads The Economist?

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, as an Economist author, I'm very offended by the implication that

Re:Who reads The Economist?

[jayke]

Incomplete.

Not at all, the rest of the post is simply behind the Murdoch paywall.

Re:Science & art flourished better w/o copyrig

[timmarhy]

" I would contend that what really caused the greatest achievements in science and art is the ignorance/narrow culture preceding its creation."

sweet so we are in for a boom in achievements in art and science any day now.

Re:When they're right, they're right

[AliasMarlowe]

I suggest we drop by the house of everyone that doesn't understand IF YOU DONT LIKE IT DON'T WATCH/READ/LISTEN TO IT, and slap them in the side of the head.

This is the best presentation of an argument I've heard in weeks.

True enough when it comes to copyright and patent debates on slashdot...

I can't imagine why you've never run for public office.

It would be far too exhausting. Can you imagine how many voters would need their heads slapped during the campaign?

Re:When they're right, they're right

[Grimbleton]

Basically the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

Re:When they're right, they're right

[Anonymous Coward]

A technical answer to that might manifest shortly in the musical scene.

"Music" follows set mathematical grammars, and as such, has only a finite number of "Pleasant" sounding progressions. It is entirely possible for all possible "Pleasant" musical scores to become copyrighted, and thus, essentially destroy the process of creating "new" musical scores. (Since the only way to make such new scores would be to either radically redefine musical structure (would require rewiring human brains)-- or to utilize the existing progressions in novel configurations.)

You're right, all the pleasant configurations have been used up, and now we're left with: Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, NickelBack, etc.

Re:When they're right, they're right

[Hatta]

For example, my sister was very upset that someone wrote a sequel to Gone With the Wind

So what, we should all suffer because your sister is a bitch?

Re:On an unrelated note...

[Anomalyst]

Don't forget to renew your subscription to the Economist. HTH.

Re:When they're right, they're right

[TubeSteak]

It would be far too exhausting. Can you imagine how many voters would need their heads slapped during the campaign?

Wanted: Campaign volunteers
Requirements: At least one hand and a desire to change the country

Campaign slogans:
"Hit the IP industry where it hurts: Upside their heads."
"How can she slap? She slaps for copyright reform."
"Communicate with today's voters the way their parents once did: with a slap."
"Would you rather have 14 slaps or 95 slaps? We feel the same way about the length of copyright."
"How many slaps does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?"

-This message sponsored by Students Litigating Against Pratty Publishers

OpenMouse

[IGnatius T Foobar]

I've already registered the domain "openmouse.org" and am just waiting for copyright reform to happen so I can release my Creative Commons version of Mickey!

Re:When they're right, they're right

[ultranova]

When you say stuff like this, it makes you sound like what you REALLY care about is being able to get your music for free.

Not really, I'm far more interested in the fine drama sites like this offer :). There's nothing like pouring myself a hot cup of coffee early in the morning, sitting in front of the computer, firing up the browser and seeing a story on Slashdot's the front page with a title like "Drug found to cause hallucinations! This proves that there is no afterlife!" and 700+ comments on it.

I love the smell of burning karma and caffeine in the morning.

I have no sympathy for your cause, sir.

All the more reason for me to champion these anonymizing networks, so I don't have to depend on sympathy from strangers, now isn't it you peasant?