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

On Thu, Nov 12, 1998, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> 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.

Kodachrome color film images can be expected to last about 100-250 years. (Not Ektachrome, Fujichrome, or other E-6 films.)

Michael A Scarpitti
Assistant Editor
Materials Evaluation
The American Society
For Nondestructive Testing
1711 Arlingate Lane
Columbus, Ohio 43228-0518
(800) 222-2768 X207
(614) 274-6003 X207
fax (614) 274-6899
e-mail mscarpit[_at_]asnt.org Received on Fri Nov 13 1998 - 13:50:37 GMT