----- Original Message ----- From: "Joshua Kronengold" <mneme at io.com> To: <dragaera at dragaera.info> Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 12:39 AM Subject: Re: Artificial release dates and online publishing > David Dyer-Bennet writes: > >Joshua Kronengold <mneme at io.com> writes: > >> The point is that fixing copyright to anyone's lifespan is ludicrous > >> unless you think the possibility of someone writing a parody or fanfic > >> (or even commercial variant on same) is a tragedy. And as much as it > >> might feel like one (just like, say, a negative review), it's not -- > >> it's just a thing. > >Parody is protected fair use, so that's not at issue. Most fanfic > >*is* a tragedy. The better fanfic is a tragedy *twice* (they should > >have been writing something original). > > Eh. Nothing completely original is worth reading. Everything else is > a matter of degree. Very little is totally original anyway. > >I don't see how I can protect the creators rights if the creator can > >be forced to sit by and watch people totally pervert his creation. > > What rights? If someone can pervert your creation deliberately, by > parody, what's left that's worse? > > Misrepresentation? That's covered by libel -- if you put an author's > name on the cover of something without permission and don't explain > how you've changed their work, you're open to libel, methinks (if > they're still alive, anyway). > > Someone else making money off your work? It's going to happen > eventually; the key is to making sure you make your share (which for > most works will be a lion's share with or without lifetime > copyrights). You won't make a penny if your rights expire one year after they make a movie from your work. And they'll probably time it that way too... Damn, that would be frustrating to LIVE through. What other protection would an author have in a case like that? <snip parody> > >> Without that, a lifetime-based copyright is just a sop to genius 18 > >> year olders, and a punishment to 80 year olders, who can't necessarily > >> sell their works for as much...and a means of keeping works out of the > >> public domain for 0-70 years longer than they would otherwise be. > >I'd guess anything over life+10 would give old people the same prices > >on their work. > > Except that the same arguments against "lifetime" apply here -- if > their book gains popularity, and sequels/movie rights are in the > offing, the heirs are taking a serious hit, whereas with a fixed term, > they've got the same chances everyone else does. This isn't about chances, it's about authors having power over, and benefiting from, their work while they're alive. <snip lifespan increasing stuff> -Scott