[GauntletWizard]

I'd actually be perfectly fine if Characters, such as Holmes, fell under Trademark, rather than copyright. Sure, nobody could create new works starring Holmes himself, but there have been any number of Expys over the years, and truly good plots and writing would get recognized, expy or not. It would give the Holmes estate reason to promote additional stories - Trademarks are only valid while in use. They'd have to shepherd the brand, not simply leech on it.

It would also have the added effect of making it finally safe to reduce copyright down to a sane time; Somewhere within a lifetime. The Mouse could be protected under trademark law, while his early adventures would be free for anyone to see.

Trademark is also more open to use - A trademark cannot be used to sell, rather than not used at all as with copyright. It makes it far clearer that The Onion can portray The Mouse as getting caught in a toronto-esque crack scandal, or whatever else they wish to parody, without the ugliness of american "Fair Use" laws.

[jaekwon]

I just want a DNS system. That is, I want to know whether what I am buying is original or not. Let the market decide whether they want the original or fakes. Even the original creator shouldn't have a say on whether other people buy and sell derivatives (or even direct copies!) of the creator's work.

The only thing I care about is truth. If you make a claim X, e.g. branding your item as in a trademark, then it should be true. But I see no harm in allowing products that do not make any false claim at all.

Abstract art doesn't belong to the creator. Once it's published it has a life of its own, like a mathematical proof of a theorem. The only thing that is yours is the claim that you did it. I wish the world worked this way. We'd see more innovation in everything.

The whole patent/copyright thing, I find absurd.

For patents, imagine if the population were a million times greater than it is now, some staggering number. Would you feel comfortable with a patent system then? Probably anything you could come up with would infringe marginally upon another's protected under a temporary monopoly. People would be shut out from selling anything at all, except those who already had resources to discover new inventions.

Copyright is different because perhaps the scope of possible interesting discoveries or inventions is much broader so anybody could participate and create something unique. But even then, who is the creator of abstract art to tell others to not derive joy or economic sustenance from his/her creations? As long as the transactions were based upon truth, e.g. no lying about who the creator is, ideally with correct attribution, then it's none of anybody else's business! If the consumer wants to purchase "fake" fan-fiction, just take it in stride. It does not affect you, your creative ability, nor your economic condition.