Re: Re: will everyone concerned about copyright please read this

Joseph,

Regarding the specific points about Beethoven and Bach, yes, you're right that you might be able to license, if you could find descendants (neither has any known direct descendants), and they agreed to the use. Given the specific examples, if I were a descendant of Bach, I'd say yes, Beethoven, no (though that is strictly a matter of musical taste:-).

But, that's an aside to my main points, which were 1) that a perpetual copyright would make the already difficult job of tracking copyright ownership nearly impossible, and 2) that in my opinion, expiration of a copyright after a reasonable period of time is, like expiration of a patent, in the public interest.

Best Regards,
Richard
-------
XML Press
New from XML Press:
Learning Author-it
http://xmlpress.net/publications/learning-author-it

On Sep 20, 2011, at 2:03 PM, joseph harris wrote:

> 
> On 20/09/2011 18:24, Richard Hamilton wrote:
> > On Sep 20, 2011, at 6:32 AM, Dan Poynter wrote:
> > 
> >>
> >> The copyright term or fiction should be forever because the book is a work of art.
> >> The copyright term for nonfiction should last forever because anyone is free to reprint the ideas but not the words.
> >> 
> > Dan,
> >
> > In
> > 
> <snip>
> > Besides, if Beethoven's descendants (probably his publisher's descendants, since he had no known children) still had the rights to his works, we wouldn't have the disco classic:-) "A Fifth of Beethoven," or if you prefer classic rock, you wouldn't have "A Whiter Shade of Pale," or the three Bach pieces that inspired it, which themselves might have been borrowed from earlier works by others (as was common in those days).
> >
> > So, yes, allow creators and their immediate descendants to exploit their work, but not forever.
> >
> > 
> > Best Regards,
> > Richard Hamilton
> 
> Richard,
> 
> You confuse different things. All derivatives could just as easily have 
> been produced with perpetual or existing copyright. It is a simple 
> matter of licencing. All the calssic composers would have been [are? 
> ;-)] delighted that their music has lived on in the popular songs of the 
> past two centuries or so; they might have been more pleased if some 
> revenue had gone to their descendants! ;-)
> 
> You are not talking about using copyright material, but about paying for 
> that use.
> 
> Joseph



------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
-------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    [email protected] 
    ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/