January 1, 2023 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1927 are open to all

Re:January 1, 2023 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1927 are... by onion2k on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @03:00AM (#34077890)

Things entering the public domain should be considered in the context of lowering the cost of access more than the work being the basis of new dirivative works. It's far more important that millions of people can read or watch something without having to pay a fee to the publisher than it is for someone to use the work as source material for a new work.

Copyright should be much shorter so that everyone can access culturally relevant art and books even if they have very little money. Right now the only option for many is piracy because the works their peers are seeing work enter the public domain until decades after they die.

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Re:January 1, 2023 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1927 are... by Jochim on Thursday December 22, 2022 @09:54AM (#34093852)

I disagree. Reusing, reimagining, and retelling are fundamental concepts and key to human development. Copyright is almost unjustifiable as a concept in from that perspective.

Copyright sets an arbitrary limit on what is considered "original". The vagueness of that limit is then used to crush and suppress related ideas, with no care as to whether they were discovered entirely independently.

The goal of ensuring that people are recognised and rewarded for their work is noble. Copyright is just an awful way of doing so. It runs contrary to how our brains work and enforcing it is in the same ballpark as thought policing.

[ Parent | on HN ]