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

On Wed, 10 May 2000 Tyler Ochoa <tochoa[_at_]LAW.WHITTIER.EDU> wrote:
>
> On 05/09/2000, 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.
>
> Wrong, wrong, wrong. YOU are assuming that copyright owners will
> always give permission where there is money to be made. The contrary
> assumption that Mr. Purple (and other public domain proponents) make
> is that people will NOT always give permission, even if there is money
> to be made. The public domain is about freedom to copy and create new
> works, not about laziness.

Not so. The right to withhold permission should be honored by any artist worthy of the name. If the expense and effort required to obtain permission are not worth while, then we might wonder whether the quest has any merit at all.

Copying is not creativity. No artist or writer has a mandate to create derivatives. The considerable output of creative work based on others' art -- whether it be mega-million-dollar movies or hip-hop tracks loaded with samples -- have permission. I have a very strong feeling that Andrew Lloyd Weber and Diseney had the rights where they needed them to create "their most popular works." They also paid any number of artists and writers to support their creative impulse with original contributions.

Albert Henderson
Pres., Chess Combination Inc.
<70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Tue May 16 2000 - 10:50:14 GMT