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by nordsieck 979 days ago
> It feels a little out of calibration. How about free for 20 years; $500 for 10 more ... Everyone gets 30 years to exploit a work for a reasonable price

IMO, it's important to have a short default period. The vast majority of content - posts, comments, videos, tweets, open source software, etc. will never be registered. It's a huge benefit to get that into the public domain as fast as possible while still providing a reasonable period of exclusivity to creators.

If you're really wedded to the 30 year thing, I think an initial 10 years, and 20 years for the first registered period is a better balance.
1 comments
mlyle 979 days ago
On the other hand, some kinds of work may not really make it to market inside the 10 years. It's all tough compromises.

I'm sure we can agree that we can definitely do better than what we have now, though. Let's not make perfect the enemy of good.

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nordsieck 979 days ago
> On the other hand, some kinds of work may not really make it to market inside the 10 years.

My understanding is that copyright starts when the work is first fixed to a medium. Which means that intermediate versions shouldn't start the clock[1]. But I'm not a lawyer, so I could be totally wrong.

> I'm sure we can agree that we can definitely do better than what we have now, though.

100% concur.

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1. As opposed to the situation with medication and patents, where the patents are ticking down while trials are in operation.

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mlyle 979 days ago
> Which means that intermediate versions shouldn't start the clock

No, but an initial time presenting a form of the work will. So, e.g. using the basis for a future textbook with your students starts the clock on those versions.

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