Court nixes lawsuit fighting copyright law

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Make it an economic decision...

Copyright is a statutory grant of rights permitted by Congress to promote the sciences and the arts. So it is everyone's right to debate when this statutory grant should expire, and I suggest an economic model.

Let's use a mandatory registration/renewal scheme. Registration and renewals benefit the public in ensuring that there is a well-known contact point for obtaining permission to use a copyrighted work, and avoids the problem of orphaned work (as mentioned in the article).

Have the length of copyright determined by a grace period followed by annual registration. All of the times/rates I'm suggesting are arbitrary.

For example, let the grace period be 5 years for copyrights registered to individuals, and zero years for corporations. Thus, the first five years of copyrights held by individuals is gratis.

After the grace period ends, then the next year the copyright will cost 1 cent. Every year after that, the rate doubles from the previous year (2 additional cents for the 2nd year, 4 cents for the 3rd year, and so on). The 10th year would cost $10.24, or a total of $20.47 for the first 10 years. A copyright holder can "pre-pay" in advance, if desired.

Each year, the decision becomes an economic one: Is the work valuable enough such that it is worth keeping the copyright for another year, or should it revert back to the public domain?

Don't forget that the copyright holder can continue to sell the work after the copyright has expired-- it isn't that all profits have to be made in the years where copyright is in force. But after the expiration, then anyone can use or sell their own copies of the work, and create derivative works.

In order for this to work, it is important that:

1. The grace period is kept very short. Having a 50 year grace period is pretty much the same as the current situation. 5 years is pretty long.

2. Have the rate of renewing each year increase each year, preferably substantially. (I suggest exponentially).

3. Make sure there is no cap. The idea is to make it more and more expensive to keep the legal monopoly, and make the decision "painful" enough that its a real decision each year, not "Okay, let's buy the next 100 years."

4. Copyright transfers do not "reset" the pay schedule. This prevents two people from endlessly exchanging their copyrights amongst each other, just to avoid renewal fees.

Cheers!

Posted by: Root User   Posted on: 11/24/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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