Reduce copyright term to Life + 50 years and lobby worldwide for Life + 25 years #184
Conversation
Reduce copyright terms
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A 👍 in principle from me - the proposal to revise downwards to the lower bound permissable by the Berne Convention in particular is a very strong idea. However, I'd question Life+25 as an optimal copyright term in the absence of other constraints. Rufus Pollock of the OKFN has done a lot of research on this subject, and proposes an optimal term of 15 years. I'll flesh this out later (and find some more sources - there are plenty), but I'd like to propose a compulsory deposit / registration requirement, with a term of 15 years from registration, plus an optional extra 15 on application once that 15 has expired. More generally, any copyright term that explicitly persists beyond the death of the author seems entirely counter-productive to me. |
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👍 here also. @timcowlishaw, if we pull this in, you can submit your refinements as a separate PR. That OK? |
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Sounds great. will get on that today! On 9 May 2014 08:55, James Smith notifications@github.com wrote:
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@timcowlishaw I'm not sure of the benefits of compulsory deposit – doesn't that just add an extra burden, and would be hard to manage in an age of mass creativity (you'd have to register every blog post?) The benefit of "Life + x" is, as I see it, because the date of someone's death is fairly unambiguous and more likely to be knowable than date of creation or first publication. |
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👍 for good measure :) |
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How do I merge? Do I need admin rights first? |
Reduce copyright term to Life + 50 years and lobby worldwide for Life + 25 years
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Yes, admin rights needed to merge. Done it now. |
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Proposals will be accepted and merged once they have a total of 2 points when all votes are counted. Votes will be open for a minimum of 7 days, but will be closed if the proposal is not accepted after 90. Votes are counted automatically here, and results are set in the merge status checks below. ChangesIf the proposer makes a change to the proposal, no votes cast before that change will be counted. |
Reducing the length of copyright allows for more universal access to knowledge, as well enabling commercial activity around out-of-copyright works (e.g. printings, adaptations, etc).
Life + 50 years is achievable immediately without breaking the international Berne Convention.
Life + 25 years would, in my view, represent a fairer balance between allowing authors control of their work, and enabling wider access and use sooner after their death.
(Works by multiple authors such as films or anonymous authors might need separate provisions)