Re: benefits of the public domain and limited copyright terms?

On Tue, May 09, 2000, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> On Sat, 6 May 2000, Lance Purple <lpurple[_at_]netcom.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, 5 May 2000, Jon Noring <noring[_at_]netcom.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > On another mailing list a very pointed question was asked, the gist
> > > of the question being "why is the Public Domain necessary -- what's
> > > wrong with perpetual copyright terms?"
> >
> > Because it would likely have stopped Shakespeare, Walt Disney,
> > Andrew Lloyd Weber, and countless other artists from creating
> > their most popular works:
>
> That is assuming they were too lazy to obtain the usual
> permissions where needed and to pay appropriate fees and
> royalties.

     You might also add "too broke to pay the fee" or "were denied permission" for any of a number of reasons. Not everyone has enough money to pay what is asked, and not every request for permission is granted - even if vast amounts of money are offered. Licensing is a very very useful approach, but it doesn't always benefit everybody.

     Regards,
     Christopher

Christopher Gwyn
<christopher[_at_]icopyright.com> Received on Wed May 10 2000 - 17:17:51 GMT