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

[Kurt Hockenbury <khockenb(at)stevens-tech.edu>]

On Wed, 7 Nov 2001, John Galt wrote:

> I constantly reread works
> by Heinlein and Azimov all the time even two decades after their death
> and may very well have to obtain a new copy some time, as my copies are
> showing much wear.  So where is long enough for both cases?  A short
> renewable copyright may very well be the way to go, with the cost of
> renewal based on the formula above such that it's more trouble than it's
> worth to renew a copyright on a non-useful work, but trivial to renew a
> work that the copyright holder is playing by the rules.

Even with a short, renewable copyright, I'd want a fixed, absolute, upper
limit -- 50 years??  Less?

Otherwise, the only things that will ever enter the public domain are items
that are viewed as unprofitable.  Why should being "valuable" prevent
something from entering the public domain?

-Kurt