Monday, May 19, 2003

Copyfight: Copyright terms, like the DMCA, software and so called method patents, are an example of the use of law to prevent competition that would result in a greater good. Prof Lessig has put forth the Public Domain Enhancement Act and encourages all to ask their senators and congress person to consider sponsoring the bill he suggests (see http://eldred.cc/). Big interests have pushed Copyright legislation to the point where nothing has nor will enter the public domain for many years. Their argument that this will encourage the production of creative works is clearly deceptive, that is a point that sounds reasoned but has no basis in fact. The fact is that any financial decision (made with a positive time value of money) will value any income more than ten years in the future at near zero. Adding time 20 - 50 years out (beyond the death of the author!!?) cannot be viewed as encourageing the creation of new material now. On the other hand, the value to Disney of preserving the Mickey Mouse franchise even five more years from now is clearly of great value, now. 6:16:44 PM    comment []