Re: Re: A new device. Be still, my heart

From: "Daniel P. B. Smith" 

> 
> Why is it unreasonable for me to require that _my_ rights last as  
> long as the publisher's?
> 

Daniel,

I sympathise with you about the Rocket device [and all similar things that cease to work before their expected time] and I certainly concur that the printed book is quite amazing in its longevity [never mind 60 years, many are still OK after hundreds!]. And they are dwarfed by some papyri - and stone? Don't ask!.

But I just wanted to make clear that the publisher does not have rights in the way you suggest. The Queen Anne Act  started the C18 by taking the control away from the printer/publisher.

The publisher is only licencee. Some individual contracts are quite unfair to the rightsowners, I agree. But that is about business and negotiating, not about copyright.

The underlying point, how does one deal with the copyright situation in the digital age, is more interesting. However the digital age is very young; a great deal of initially free content has already been turned to versions of paid for. Led by Murdoch the news and entrtainment in papers is about to join that, and the loss of advertising revenue all round will speed the move.

Where the discussion is really worth having is how to balance the risks of the digital with the needs of making it worth producing the product. Remember that, in the digital age, the individual is more the creator/publisher and the bigger publisher is less able to make those unfair contracts. In many ways there is a reationship between software and books, but they, and of course the music business, where the copyright is most contested, are all very different.

Digital seems to mean a great increase in the variety of product, rather than affecting delivered price or terms. That seems to me a good deal and a true increase in 'the culture'.

Joseph

Joseph Harris  -  Debt Control Man
author: Control Your Debt Crisis on Your Own Terms
blog: http://debtcontrolman.wordpress.com
http://www.controlyourdebtcrisis.co.uk
debt dictionary: http://www.controlyourdebtcrisis.co.uk/debtwiki/



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