Re: copyright under stress

On Thu, Jun 15, 2000, Edward Barrow <edward[_at_]plato32.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> [...]
> Let us assume that there were no copyright law. It is unlikely that
> innovation or creativity would stop altogether, for humanity was
> innovative and creative long before copyright law surfaced. But
> the market for works of the intellect would be profoundly different.
> Much more work would be commissioned exclusively. The costs -- of
> the writer's time and any subsequent production investment -- would
> have to be borne by the first purchaser, who would be likely to
> require exclusive access enforced with confidentiality agreements.
> (Why should I pay a lot for something if my neighbour can then get
> it for free?). The consequence would be that access to information
> would be much more restricted.
>
> Copyright allied with easy reproduction means that many people can
> each pay a little towards the costs of producing creative works;
> without copyright -- and despite easy reproduction -- the trend would
> be towards a few people having to pay a great deal.

Would this situation still obtain in a world where the production costs were vanishingly small -- as for example the Internet is claimed to present?

And what about copyright on information or material which is not a commodity but subject to "mass customization"? (Would a business that needed a particular software program, for example, refrain from buying it because others could obtain it for free? -- is that a sound business decision? -- and why wouldn't the author be able to charge other businesses anyway, even if others could get some of the software for free -- the author might know how to work it better.)

The same argument is being made today about music on the Internet. My friend John Perry Barlow believes that musicians should give it away on the Internet but charge for performances.

Please note that I only raise these issues for discussion. I am not completely clear myself on what the right answers are. But I am beginning to feel that technology such as the Internet might cause us to think differently about both the problems and the solutions. I am confident that the copyright term should not have been increased. I am not willing to give up on copyright entirely. But we ought to be ready to experiment a bit more -- we seem to be looking for nails just because we have a hammer in our hand.

-- 
"Eric"  Eric Eldred  Eldritch Press
mailto:Eldred[_at_]EldritchPress.org
http://www.eldritchpress.org/EricEldred.vcf