sc94597 said:
I could get behind this if by creator we mean the workers (individually or associatively) who produced a thing, and not the proprietors who have captured control over that thing, and if an IP can't be owned indefinitely by re-releasing new products in a common franchise. The IP should be sufficiently novel to get the protection. Although I'd rather just ditch IP in way of an extensive distributed prize system or gift economy anyway, and allow people to play freely with ideas, as we had done hundreds of thousands of years before IP was invented. The sort of experimentation we're seeing currently with decomps of newer games isn't any more harmful than fanfiction, in my opinion. There are also scenarios where violating an IP has led to preservation (i.e PT.) I especially don't think people or companies have a (moral) right to prevent the distribution of an IP if they no longer distribute it themselves. |
Sure, capturing of control was never meant to happen, copyright was supposed to ensure the opposite. And yeah IP law takes it too far. A specific work should be protected for a limited amount of time from plagiarism and unlawful copying, but not an idea. Doom clones have led to wonderful new games as well as many mods of games.
Anyway it's ridiculous you basically still have to pay the grandchildren of the original creator for using a piece of music or movie clip. Same with corporations. Black and white Mickey Mouse (Steamboat Willie) finally entered public domain 2 years ago. 95 years is the current term!
