ELDRED

I completely support the decision. Intellectual property is today's means of production and the source of wealth in the world today. You just have to look at the top 10 richest people in the world to see that. A hundred years ago, the source of wealth might have been steel mills etc. Later, the source of wealth might have been real estate and the like. Today, the source of wealth is IP. Ownership of IP rights is essential if your goal is to be successful and wealthy. That is the reason I constantly stress the need to "own everything."

Thus, any laws that protect the creative process, even well into the future, I support. In today's world, and presumably in tomorrow's, media has many diverse formats. A quick scan of cable television, as but one example, reveals the long term potential of IP rights of old television shows, music etc. Rights of creators should be viewed with that diversity in mind. What level of protection might have existed 50 or so years ago seems to me to be irrelevant. As both a creator myself and an attorney who has represented creatives throughout all of my over 29 years of practicing law, I believe that if you do not at least wake up every day believing that what you are going to create is going to have that kind of potential, it makes it hard to justify the act of creating the same. Clearly not everything is going to have those "legs" but if any of us knew what was or was not going to last, we'd be in another line of work. Thus, those creating creativity should make the assumption that what they are creating is going to be valuable for a long time and thus the longevity of protection should be at least part of the motivation for such creation.

Those interested can read "What Business Are You In?,"
(http://www.ivanhoffman.com/business.html) "Private Laws"
(http://www.ivanhoffman.com/private.html) and "The Need for Vision"
(http://www.ivanhoffman.com/vision.html) on my site.

IVAN HOFFMAN, B.A., J.D.
Attorney at Law
Lawyering With Integrity
Internet Law, Publishing Law, Copyrights, Trademarks, Fine Art Law, Corporate Training and Online Education Law, Web Design Law, Music Law. *A 7 Times Award Winning Site.* http://www.ivanhoffman.com Received on Fri Jan 17 2003 - 14:59:37 GMT