Comments on: When copyright term-extension meets infinite life-extension

By: jhertzli

jhertzli — Sun, 06 May 2012 02:07:00 +0000

I have a related question: Should we change the term of Supreme Court justices from life to something limited (e.g., three score years and ten)?

By: Benhamish Allen

Benhamish Allen — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:43:00 +0000

One day, when we have achieved immortality via Kurzweil machines we will need to recontemplate this “copyright” but that day is not today. It is good to think of these things before hand though…

I don’t normally call myself an extremist but it does seem that when it comes to copyright there are only two options, perpetual or none. The interesting thing is that universal access is required in both cases but a new non-anonymous network would be required to institute the former.

By: thunderhammer

thunderhammer — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:18:00 +0000

You won’t feel that way after you’ve read my Harry Potter fanfiction.

By: Sagodjur

Sagodjur — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:12:00 +0000

As a fellow creator of things, I’m surprised you’re so blind so as to not see how derivative everything is, including the things you create. You don’t live in a cultural vacuum. Your ideas come from somewhere – pre-existing culture, experiences, other people, etc. Even the language you use is learned from others. Unless you’re creating a new language to write stories in (which has also been done before), you’re not really ever coming up with anything “new” per se.

Star Wars is a great example. It’s World War II dogfights in space with samurai laser sword fights and medieval dark knights and old west style gunslingers and kitschy Buck Rogers space opera adventures and mythic hero journeys into the underworld. The only “originality” is in how you mix the elements together.

By: Vickie Kostecki

Vickie Kostecki — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:57:00 +0000

Read Robert Sawyer’s Mindscan for an interesting take on this very subject. Wealthy woman has herself downloaded into a robotic body, and her son will never come into his inheritance. Lulz ensue.

By: digi_owl

digi_owl — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:52:00 +0000

A classic that should be handed to any judge that ever is to decide on a copyright issue.

By: digi_owl

digi_owl — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:52:00 +0000

Please, do not give those corporations any ideas!

By: digi_owl

digi_owl — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:51:00 +0000

Quite a few of the Disney classics came from retelling older stories since gone public domain. Humanity has long told and retold stories, with likely telephone style outcomes.

By: Fazal Majid

Fazal Majid — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:20:00 +0000

What if the father had himself cryogenized? He wouldn’t be legally dead and thus copyright would still be active.

By: mcs212

mcs212 — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:53:00 +0000

Funny enough, the concept that human imagination is limited, resulting in a finite amount of original ideas, and the consequences of extending copyrights was addressed in another short story, “Melancholy Elephants.”

http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html

By: HeartlessMachine

HeartlessMachine — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:20:00 +0000

Am I supposed to feel bad for this character, because he wants to write stories about some very well-known characters someone else invented, rather than create his own characters? Is this guy supposed to represent a good reason to rewrite copyright laws? As a creator of things, I find this whole idea absurd.

By: Chentzilla

Chentzilla — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:43:00 +0000

Hey, I’ve once invented something similar to Rajah Robot: http://mjr-blayne.livejournal.com/93463.html

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:58:00 +0000

You can tell its Sci-Fi… he managed to make enough money to survive on.
This implies the gatekeepers were gone, we all know their zombie heads will keep running the corps for a long time.

By: Dan Huby

Dan Huby — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:15:00 +0000

Rajah Robot, Poxy Toff, Flora Aurora and Badfinger Bill?Maybe this is one franchise that is better off without the reboot ;)

By: Frederik

Frederik — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:14:00 +0000

Perhaps you should read the whole story rather then just the opening paragraph…

By: retepslluerb

retepslluerb — Thu, 03 May 2012 09:15:00 +0000

Yeah. Just look at Kurt Busiek’s Astro City and Alan Moore’s take on Supreme.

By: tnmc

tnmc — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:28:00 +0000

Why not create new characters loosely based on the originals? It’s not entirely satisfactory, but then this kid could write!