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Happy Public Domain Day: Works That Copyright Extension Stole From Us In 2015
Jennifer Jenkins, Director of Duke's Center for the Study of the Public Domain, points out what could have entered public domain in 2015 but won't and why we need to use the upcoming Public Domain Day to focus on the importance of copyright reform. She writes: "What could have been entering the public domain in the US on January 1, 2015? Under the law that existed until 1978 -- Works from 1958. The films Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Gigi, the books Our Man in Havana, The Once and Future King, and Things Fall Apart, the songs All I Have to Do Is Dream and Yakety Yak, and more -- What is entering the public domain this January 1? Not a single published work."
i refuse to buy books, movies and music anymore
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Which given the excuses for this stuff is really telling.(Since the whole "You're stealing from the creators" is one of the arguments you hear about this shit.) So these days you have shit like Hollywood accounting and things like the author of Forrest Gump literally not getting paid royalties for the movie.(Because it supposedly didn't make a profit.) Of course there's the whole thing screwing of musicians by record labels. Basically if you record an album don't expect to get any profits at all. If you make any money it will be off touring. Here's one, just to show how much of a bunch of scum bags they really are. https://www.techdirt.com/artic...
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
The feature films who would want to watch them anyway? books I can understand that but feature films ZzZzZzZ. can they still earn money from these old films? who watches these! Fantasy cartoons where it is all silliness and happiness that I could understand it relieves stress. I don't understand feature films it's grown-up men playing children's games why is it entertaining why? It's nonsense it's what every child grows out of goody's baddies, doctors and nurses, Cowboys and Indians, and so on. Films a waste of two hours sitting on your arse watching nonsense. I really find this difficult to understand I think it is mainly a Indian and U.S. thing? Or maybe not I just literally don't understand it it is silliness.
Of course, but remember at the bottom of Slashdot is a bunch of whiney parasites who think they are entitled other people's property without paying for it.
I think the copyright laws in the US need reform, but frankly if I were to write a book, I'd like my descendants to benefit for some while.
Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
No corporation should own a copyright which outlives the creator(s) of the work plus a decade.
How does this work when there are hundreds of people working on a project, like a film? Does the copyright expire ten years after the first death, or the last? If the former, then pretty much any movie more than ten years old will be in the public domain. If the latter, I guess we're going to start seeing a few dozen babies somehow contributing to every new project, all of them selected from families who seem to live unusually long.
Also, what constitutes "death"? What happens if a member of the crew is cryogenically preserved and later brought back to life? Does copyright get reinstated? And what happens if people stop dying? It doesn't seem at all unlikely that within the next few decades we acquire the ability to keep a human body alive indefinitely (though I'm not sure if the brain is up to remaining useful for much longer)?
I think tying copyright to human lifespans is a bad idea. I prefer ever-increasing copyright maintenance fees. If Disney is willing to pay a billion dollars a year to keep Mickey, fine. But for most works, the copyright owners will eventually decide that it's better to release it into the public domain.
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My consumption is mostly limited to "all you can watch" buffet type services and waiting until the movies are on sale for $5.
There is a lot of free content being created as well. (Like the harry potter and the methods of rationality, all the youtube videos).
I am now retired and I literally cannot keep up with all the content being created. So with rare exceptions, I just stay back on the less expensive end of the curve.
I would estimate that last year I saw a dozen movies for $4.25 on matinee and maybe 3? at full fare (including the hobbit as part of a special marathon showing of all three hobbit movies back to back).
And I'm slowly reading the original three musketeers in french.
I think a lot of young people are going to buy things until they come to the same realization I did. I was spending about $60 a week on DVD's back in 2001 and I realized I *wasn't* rewatching them. Since then I've bought 1 DVD and 2 Bluray's. And .. I didn't rewatch them either (one was inception). It's just rare to find something like Moulin Rouge or Silverado that I can watch over and over.
Another thing that has faded away is actually doing things at the same time as my friends. Until I was 30, we used to do things together and share them. Now it's all asynchronous. No shared social group scene.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Want to encourage the creation of creative works?
It's well known that creativity flourishes with experienced adversity. The irony of the copyright system is that it's actually discouraging this creative seed. Artists are way too comfortable, living off royalties, to knuckle down and start producing stuff.
I say we cut copyright to a bare minimum. A year at max. That'll get those lazy artists off their collective arses, and provide plenty of encouragement to create something at least once per year.
Remember kids, nothing speeds productivity like poverty.