Re: Abandoning property (Was: Copyright Extension Bill Passes Congress)

On 10 Nov 1998, Lance Purple <lpurple[_at_]netcom.com> wrote:
>
> Moritz Roettinger <moritz.roettinger[_at_]dg23.cec.be> wrote:
> >
> > [...]
> > if there is no value so why should any (copyright) protection be
> > harmful? Take the example of computer programmes which are protected
> > for 70 years p.m.a. in Europe. This does not harm the further
> > development although the programmes loose their value within few
> > years.
>
> How do you propose for scholars or researchers (or just the interested
> members of the public) to acquire a copy of a program which is still
> copyrighted, but hasn't been sold for 50 years? Or do you think that
> history older than that should be erased forever, in order to protect
> the publisher's monopoly on works they aren't even willing to publish?!

This is one of the fundamental weaknesses of digital publishing. Whatever happened to CP/M and VisiCalc? Not only the programs disappear but content becomes unavailable due to obsolescence. Magnetic media is also ephemeral. Only neutral pH paper and certain film, I believe, have been proved capable of lasting the life of a copyright! ... or longer. If content has any value, it belongs in an archival medium.

Albert Henderson, Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY <70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Thu Nov 12 1998 - 21:50:30 GMT