Re: copyright expiration as a spur to creativity

On 26 Aug 1998, Peter Groves <petergroves[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> Surely they are protected throughout the EC as literary works for
> 70 years pma, although it hardly makes a difference: as far as the
> development of new software is concerned, a copyright term of anything
> more than a few weeks is a potential obstacle, and no coputer program
> needs 50 (or even any) years pma. The incentive provided by copyright
> would probably be as strong if copyright protection for such works was
> only 5 years, period.

This thought might apply to some software, particularly back office data processing. However, I would think that original text and artwork might have a commercial life quite separate from code in games and interactive instructional products.

Albert Henderson, Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY <70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Fri Aug 28 1998 - 13:52:36 GMT