Re: copyright expiration as a spur to creativity

On 8/28/98, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, 25 Aug 1998, Joseph Liu <liu3[_at_]law.harvard.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Similarly, I suppose that agricultural subsidies should properly be set
> > by the farm industry.
>
> Yes. Farmers have plenty of input via official testimony and
> constituents' communications with their elected representatives and
> government agencies.

My question (which I had thought a rhetorical one) was not whether farmers have input into the process (I assume that they have all too much) but whether they should have *sole* say in how big the subsidies should be.

> > I agree that the question "how long is long enough" is a complicated one
> > (and probably impossible to answer with any degree of precision), but I
> > don't see how "that question can only be answered by IP creators." Of
> > course IP creators (or at least ones that have already created their IP)
> > want a longer term -- it's in their direct financial interest for the
> > term to be as long as possible. I don't blame them for lobbying for a
> > longer term; if I were a copyright owner, I'd probably do the same. But
> > the general public also has an interest in a robust public domain.
> > Unfortunately, the general public doesn't have a very focused lobbying
> > effort.
>
> Check out the 1988 report to the Register of Copyrights on a related
> issue, Library Reproduction of Copyrighted Works (NTIS PB88-212014).
> Close to 1000 pages provides plenty of input from libraries and
> companies like Kinko Copies representing the interests of their
> academic and general public patrons - as well as advocates for
> authors and publishers.

Will do. But in the mean time, my impression is that the total amount spent by copyright owners (book publishers, movie industry, recorded music industry, etc.) lobbying congress for greater copyright protection vastly exceeds amounts spent by consumer groups lobbying in the other direction. I admit that this is pure unsupported assertion, but would you disagree? (I would like to believe that I am mistaken).

Joe.

--
Joe Liu, Climenko Teaching Fellow 
Harvard Law School Langdell 175B
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 496-3141; liu3[_at_]law.harvard.edu
http://www.buyerszone.com/personal/jpl/index.html