Re: [dvd-discuss] Must Copyright terms be uniform?

[microlenz(at)earthlink.net]

The question is not what is the balance between creating and 
sitting back and collecing the checks. Tom Clancy can sell 
millions of copies of his latest techno-opus but Harper Lee's "To 
Kill A Mockingbird" has more value than ALL his works. NOTE I 
used the word value not worth. Monetarily, Clancy wins but as 
enriching, as progressing, a few paragraphs of Harper Lee are 
worth all off Tom Clancy. <no flames. Unless You've read Harper 
Lee AND Tom Clancy don't waste the bandwidth. Explain how the 
subtilties of race relatinship in the 30s compares to techno-
babble...but that may be my own heritage.).

NOt everythign can be quantified for operations reasearch and evne 
if it can that does note mean that the model has any validity or 
applicability to the real world.

Date sent:      	Sat, 10 Nov 2001 20:19:39 -0500
From:           	Jim Bauer <jfbauer@home.com>
To:             	dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
Subject:        	Re: [dvd-discuss] Must Copyright terms be uniform?
Send reply to:  	dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu

> Michael A Rolenz <Michael.A.Rolenz@aero.org> wrote:
> >                                   The argument that 
> >works must enter into the public domain at 28yrs to be valid
> >contemporay or relevant does not hold. There is no question that a
> >short term is valuable for some of the things you discuss. The things
> >you discuss are all what the author can do for society but NOT what
> >society can do for the author that has enriched it so well. What
> >reward are they deserving? Is 50yrs such a burden on society? No more
> >so than 28yrs. 50yrs gives the author the chance of some long term
> >income and the possibility of providing some for his spouse and for a
> >few years for his children. Does 28? Not really. Does 35? maybe. Does
> >40? Possibly Does 50 most probably!
> 
> Would not a shorter copyright term (within reason) encourage more
> creative works?  If someone happens to create something very
> successful, with long term copyrights, they can just sit back and cash
> the checks that come in.  They don't need to be creative anymore.  If
> on the otherhand they know it won't last forever, they may do
> something about it.
> 
> -- 
> Jim Bauer, jfbauer@home.com