this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
511 points (87.3% liked)
Asklemmy
43968 readers
1720 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy ๐
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
This. If you invent some machine or process that will change the world, you have twenty years to make your fortune, after which you will be out-competed on price by cheap Chinese knock-offs. But if you write a book or a song or make a film, if it takes off you're set for life. And not only that, your descendants will be set for another seventy years.
20 years is quite short. But life+70 is too long. I've seen one more conservative take that would like to see 50 years for creative works. That would give enough time for two bouts of nostalgia, and meanwhile it would mean that Mozart and Beethoven would be joined by Hendrix and Elvis, that Shakespeare and Shelley would be joined by the likes of Orwell. You & I would be free to make new James Bond stories (and probably do a better job than the ones that currently have the film rights)
I think 20 years is a good amount of time. First, it matches how long patents last. Second, it gives enough time to milk the copyright to make lots of money from a creative work while letting customers see what innovation happens when it goes public domain in their lifetime.