Re:In 'Sherlock Holmes' Rights Dispute, Conan Doyle Estate S...
by baddox on Wednesday August 06, 2014 @02:57AM
(#8141370)
How would you arrange a copyright system that would not be discriminatory? For example, if you allow copyrights to be passed on to kin or other beneficiaries after death, you discriminate against people with no family or close friends. If you only let copyrights last a year, you discriminate against people who have less than a year to live, as well as young people who would prefer to have the monopoly for much longer.
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Re:In 'Sherlock Holmes' Rights Dispute, Conan Doyle Estate S...
by PeterisP on Wednesday August 06, 2014 @03:58AM
(#8141491)
As the commercial rights of copyrights are transferrable, both your examples are not really valid - people with no family nor close friends, as well as those with less than a year to live can sell their rights to whomever and spend those resources as they wish while they can.
This isn't discriminatory, as the value of the rights would be the same for author with/without family, and for the author with 6 months to live vs 60 years expected lifespan.
Re:In 'Sherlock Holmes' Rights Dispute, Conan Doyle Estate S...
by baddox on Wednesday August 06, 2014 @01:36PM
(#8143700)
I doubt that the value of knowing you will pass on wealth to your children when you die is the same as just selling the copyright to a third party while you're still alive. I thought that was the point of the original argument.