Re: copyright expiration as a spur to creativity

On 7/29/98, I wrote:
>
> Very well said. An interesting aside is that, during decades of
> writing, James Michenor's most productive period arguably occurred
> between the ages 75 and 85. He died last year at 90. He was already
> very, very wealthy before age 75. I suppose that Michenor was a rather
> exceptional case. Like so many creators, however, he was driven by the
> love of his craft (and reinvigorated because he lived his last 15 years
> in Austin :-). Knowing quite a bit about Michenor, I seriously doubt
> that he would think it desirable to keep his works out of the public
> domain until the mid-21st century. I have always believed that truly
> creative people will do their best to create because of the love of it.
> The true role of copyright protection for a large percentage of works
> is, I think, to induce the investment necessary to disseminate the
> intellectual product.
>
> Some kinds of copyrightable works are different, of course, and are
> created solely (or primarily) for gain. I doubt that "Excel for
> Dummies" was a labor of love. In these cases, I suppose that copyright
> protection is the driving force behind the creative effort itself.

Yes, I misspelled Michener's last name by using an o before the r. I realized it as soon as I hit "send." Unforgiveable sin for a devoted fan.

John Allison
<allisonj[_at_]mail.utexas.edu> Received on Thu Jul 30 1998 - 13:03:18 GMT