Let me note that I haven't abandoned this thread, but am thinking over the points made and why I feel the way I do. If/when I come to some resolution, then I will post a proper reply.
In the mean time, let me point out that copyright was invented not so much to ensure a creator's work stayed his own for decades and decades, but rather to encourage creators (with a period in which they were allowed sole privilege to profit from them) to make works that would after a while enter the public domain for the enrichment of the culture as a whole. Let me repeat that -- copyright was intended to encourage the expansion of the public domain, by a similar mechanism to patents -- an exclusive right to reproduce (and profit) from a work for a long, but not too long, period.
The modern slow mutation of copyright into an eternal protection and an eternal profit stream is a perversion of the original concept of copyright, fostered by corporations that are essentially immortal and far greedier than any individual could be. When Jefferson shaped the first American copyright law, he never imagined that anyone but the individual creator could possibly own the rights to a work. He would have loathed the idea that a company could own a work -- and would want to keep complete control over it in perpetuity. The idea behind copyright was to encourage creators to enrich the culture, not enrich corporate coffers.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
In the mean time, let me point out that copyright was invented not so much to ensure a creator's work stayed his own for decades and decades, but rather to encourage creators (with a period in which they were allowed sole privilege to profit from them) to make works that would after a while enter the public domain for the enrichment of the culture as a whole. Let me repeat that -- copyright was intended to encourage the expansion of the public domain, by a similar mechanism to patents -- an exclusive right to reproduce (and profit) from a work for a long, but not too long, period.
The modern slow mutation of copyright into an eternal protection and an eternal profit stream is a perversion of the original concept of copyright, fostered by corporations that are essentially immortal and far greedier than any individual could be. When Jefferson shaped the first American copyright law, he never imagined that anyone but the individual creator could possibly own the rights to a work. He would have loathed the idea that a company could own a work -- and would want to keep complete control over it in perpetuity. The idea behind copyright was to encourage creators to enrich the culture, not enrich corporate coffers.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.