Copyrights

[GnosisRoads]

How long should copyrights last? In the US it last author's life plus 70 years. That seems fairly excessive to me. Why do authors need such a high incentive to write? A period between 20-40 years would seem sufficient to give author's the incentive to write yet increase the public domain rapidly, which is why we have intellectual property rights in the first place.

[Moritz]

How long should copyrights last? In the US it last author's life plus 70 years. That seems fairly excessive to me. Why do authors need such a high incentive to write? A period between 20-40 years would seem sufficient to give author's the incentive to write yet increase the public domain rapidly, which is why we have intellectual property rights in the first place.

I think the interested party would be more the publisher than the author, for whom 30 years might indeed be OK (unless he has lazy heirs).
hm, according to wiki, my country also has the life +70 years rule.

[GnosisRoads]

In the US it seems like copyrights get extended whenever Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain. That given how much profits it has pulled from public domain material like Cinderella, Sleeping Beuty, and other fairy tails.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

How long should copyrights last? In the US it last author's life plus 70 years. That seems fairly excessive to me. Why do authors need such a high incentive to write? A period between 20-40 years would seem sufficient to give author's the incentive to write yet increase the public domain rapidly, which is why we have intellectual property rights in the first place.

Author's life plus long enough to support any kids left behind when an author dies through to the point where they can support themselves, IMO; I'd call that twenty years.

[Franzeska]

In the US it seems like copyrights get extended whenever Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain.

Too true.  I'd say author's life +30-40, but I don't really care as long as they just pick something and stick to it.

[comprex]

In the US it seems like copyrights get extended whenever Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain. That given how much profits it has pulled from public domain material like Cinderella, Sleeping Beuty, and other fairy tails.

http://www.culturaleconomics.atfreeweb.com/Myth.htm

[Soulless Mystic5523]

The web site Techdirt, has an ongoing series of posts about Intelectual Property and has lots of suggestions on how thigs should change, and where things have gone wrong. It really pretty interesting.

http://www.techdirt.com/