Comments on: 10th anniversary of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act: Can the good guys overturn it? http://www.teleread.org/2008/10/29/10th-anniversary-of-the-sonny-bono-copyright-term-extension-act-can-the-good-guys-overturn-it/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:38:33 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Yoda47 http://www.teleread.org/2008/10/29/10th-anniversary-of-the-sonny-bono-copyright-term-extension-act-can-the-good-guys-overturn-it/comment-page-1/#comment-945006 Yoda47 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:57:49 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/10/29/10th-anniversary-of-the-sonny-bono-copyright-term-extension-act-can-the-good-guys-overturn-it/#comment-945006 I fully understand and support creators making profit from their works, but this act was and is crazy. It's exactly like you said, how do dead authors benefit from this? I would counter that it actually hurts them. Through sites like Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks, Munseys, etc, I've gotten to know many books that have been out of print for years that I'd otherwise never have heard of. I've found many books that my Mom has mentioned reading when she was a little girl that have been out of print for decades. My kids probably won't get a chance to enjoy some of the books I like in this way. Even to use a more modern example: Jeffery Carver (starrigger.net) has made some of his books available as free ebooks as a promotion for the latest book in the series. I read them and loved them, and went to add them to my wishlist on Amazon only to find that they were out of print already. And what's going to happen to such books in 70+ years when the copyright does expire? Will there be any remaining copies to digitize, or will modern authors be completely unknown to the future? (Yeah, I know, preaching to the choir.... ;) ) I fully understand and support creators making profit from their works, but this act was and is crazy.

It’s exactly like you said, how do dead authors benefit from this?
I would counter that it actually hurts them. Through sites like Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks, Munseys, etc, I’ve gotten to know many books that have been out of print for years that I’d otherwise never have heard of.

I’ve found many books that my Mom has mentioned reading when she was a little girl that have been out of print for decades. My kids probably won’t get a chance to enjoy some of the books I like in this way.

Even to use a more modern example:
Jeffery Carver (starrigger.net) has made some of his books available as free ebooks as a promotion for the latest book in the series. I read them and loved them, and went to add them to my wishlist on Amazon only to find that they were out of print already.

And what’s going to happen to such books in 70+ years when the copyright does expire? Will there be any remaining copies to digitize, or will modern authors be completely unknown to the future?

(Yeah, I know, preaching to the choir…. ;) )

]]> By: Bill McHale http://www.teleread.org/2008/10/29/10th-anniversary-of-the-sonny-bono-copyright-term-extension-act-can-the-good-guys-overturn-it/comment-page-1/#comment-944978 Bill McHale Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:26:38 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/10/29/10th-anniversary-of-the-sonny-bono-copyright-term-extension-act-can-the-good-guys-overturn-it/#comment-944978 It is of course of special irony that Disney was one of the prime beneficiaries of the copyright extension since Disney was in large part built on adapting works that were already in the public domain. Copyright is a necessary evil, but it is an evil nonetheless. It should be tolerated by the state and the people only as long as it promotes more creativity than it prevents. Under no circumstances should copyright ever be extended retroactively or extended past the life of the author. It is of course of special irony that Disney was one of the prime beneficiaries of the copyright extension since Disney was in large part built on adapting works that were already in the public domain.

Copyright is a necessary evil, but it is an evil nonetheless. It should be tolerated by the state and the people only as long as it promotes more creativity than it prevents. Under no circumstances should copyright ever be extended retroactively or extended past the life of the author.

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