David Dyer-Bennet wrote: > Andrew Bailey <andrew at networkharmoni.com.au> writes: > > >>Changing copyright laws to reduce the period in which a work is >>protected will, in the short term, only advantage publishers. > > > And readers, the general public. It will also advance *our* interests > a lot. Maybe, maybe not. You may get cheaper books earlier. You may also find a lot of people cashing in publishing fan fiction in a known universe, something that you have said you dislike. Sure there are good derivative works, like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, but not everyone is Stoppard. Also you have to not reduce it such that it destroys the viability of being a full time author. Its much more in the readers interest that authors are paying the bills by writing rather than doing something else. Personally, I don't know why we are arguing, we both agree that copyright should be life+X where X is some reasonable value . Frankly I would be mortified if I bought a book I enjoyed , and the still living author didn't receive any compensation. They have entertained me and yet they haven't recieved anything, doesn't sound fair to me. Andrew.