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Re:Books of the Century by Le Monde by specproc on Saturday March 21, 2026 @01:46PM (#47469332)
The sad thing is how many aren't available.

I'm not sure I saw any living authors there. I see no reason why copyright should extend beyond the lifetime of the author.

Re:Books of the Century by Le Monde by schaefer on Sunday March 22, 2026 @03:16PM (#47481024)
Salman Rushdie is alive and still writing.

(Author of Midnight’s children)

Re:Books of the Century by Le Monde by aidenn0 on Tuesday March 24, 2026 @12:14AM (#47498521)
I personally think that the lifetime of the author is a bit odd, since it reduces the rewards towards those who are old or infirm. I agree the length is way too long though.

Remember that Disney was a major factor in lobbying for the longer copyright terms, and their 1959 film Sleeping Beauty was made 80 years after Tchaikovsky's ballet (a major source for the Film's soundtrack).

If we thus take 79 years as our measuring stick (And I still think that's a bit too long) 18 more books from the list would be in the public domain.

  Maybe if we take 25 as a typical beginning of career and 80 as a typical date of death for someone who lives to 25 we could settle on 55 years?  That would leave only 13 items on the list as still under copyright, and I believe that includes all works by living authors too.