I don't quite understand the rationale for the vast extension of copyrights. It's easy to blame profit seeking entertainment corporations but Disney demonstrated that it's possible to get rich by remaking public domain works. I guess a corp can get even richer with a monopoly. And maybe seeking control over something is an innate human desire.
Edit: I forgot about merchandise, a huge money maker that is subject to the copyright monopoly. And yet it's all craptacular garbage that is sold for a few years and then dropped.
So why extend copyrights for so long? Is the value that high of the rare, relevant for 100 years, culturally impactful works? (Of, for example, Herman Melville, Lewis Carroll, H G Wells, Jules Verne...)
I don't quite understand the rationale for the vast extension of copyrights. It's easy to blame profit seeking entertainment corporations but Disney demonstrated that it's possible to get rich by remaking public domain works. I guess a corp can get even richer with a monopoly. And maybe seeking control over something is an innate human desire.
Edit: I forgot about merchandise, a huge money maker that is subject to the copyright monopoly. And yet it's all craptacular garbage that is sold for a few years and then dropped.
So why extend copyrights for *so* long? Is the value that high of the rare, relevant for 100 years, culturally impactful works? (Of, for example, Herman Melville, Lewis Carroll, H G Wells, Jules Verne...)
Absolutely insane that there will be a 96 year period without anything entertaining the public domain in the US (at least, clearly free of copyright, that is).