Re: copyright under stress

On Tue, 30 May 2000, Ewan Kirk <ewan.j.kirk[_at_]solent.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> [S]urely as technology advances, the ability to make money from
> your copyright is increased, therefore a shorter term is needed
> in order to make a 'fair' remuneration from your work, and
> therefore the term of protection should be shorter, not longer.

In the first place, copyright is not a source of income, as you seem to believe, or an assurance of income, but a form of protection for a creator's effort to realize income from a work. The potential source of income is the created work -- the book, the photograph, the song, whatever.

But just exactly how do you figure that the advance of technology increases a creator's potential for realizing income from a work? In fact, Ewan, most authors, photographers, et al. will confirm that, on the contrary, the advance of technology has vastly multiplied the opportunities for infringement--and there are plenty of people ready to take advantage of those opportunities. Creators have lost, not gained, from these advances.

--Dodi Schultz
  <schultz[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Wed May 31 2000 - 22:06:34 GMT