Creativity in non-copyright world

Dan Agin of Spectrum Press Inc. <specpress[_at_]earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> I see absolutely no evidence (and correlations are NOT evidence) that
> there is or was anything in our copyright laws that is or was
> responsible for artistic productivity here. The idea is sophomoric.
> It is one thing (and a good thing) to specialize in copyright, it is
> something else to think the world turns on copyright. The entire
> European Renaissance in art and literature occurred without copyright or
> anything close to it. The 19th century was extremely productive --- for
> the most part without copyright. There are 5000 years of exquisite
> Indian and Chinese art -- all produced without without copyright
> protection.

So it does seem that creativity can thrive with short copyright terms, say 14 years, since so much good stuff happened without copyright at all. Perhaps long copyright terms are stifling creativity?

Keith Handley kehandley[_at_]amherst.edu Received on Wed Oct 01 1997 - 19:17:36 GMT