
The Trouble with Digitizing History - zdw
http://www.fastcompany.com/3048283/the-trouble-with-digitizing-history
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derekp7
The solution is so simple -- have a more reasonable time limit on "hard"
copyright (i.e., where no distribution is allowed), then when that time
expires have it go to "soft" copyright. This is where the copyright item would
be treated similar to trademarks, that is if the copyright holder isn't
actively using it then the work would be free for non-commercial use. Then the
third time period would be public domain.

Then, give the option for copyright holders to extend the "hard" copyright
time period with a periodic maintenance fee. That way, it still gives Disney
the ability to hang on to Mickey Mouse, yet any work without a clear owner
(i.e., where an old software company went defunct yet the assets are
technically held by some holding company) will be able to be preserved (along
with any movies and recordings that are no longer published).

The thing I can't figure out is why the governments don't go for this. I mean,
it is an effective way to get additional tax revenue (from rich companies such
as Disney and Hollywood), without raising taxes on the voters. Win/win; well
except for some campaign donations. But if I was in office, I'd take votes
over campaign money any day.

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ThrustVectoring
We can remove the arbitrary-but-keeps-getting-extended copyright length limit,
and just make the payments scale up exponentially the longer you hold on to
the copyright. Disney gets Mickey Mouse as long as it wants, so long as it
feels the economic value is large enough.

We can even sell Disney on this by making it easier for them to keep Mickey
Mouse under copyright for longer. I mean, they're going to keep it for a long
time anyways, but this lets them do so cheaply and with little lobbying over
the next ~30 years (depending on how the USG negotiates things). In return, we
get sane copyright rules for the rest of the content that isn't that valuable.

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falcolas
Is it worth it to save history? Ask a few historians that question. I think it
absolutely is, even if some 70% of the videos are still under copyright; that
will change eventually, as time passes.

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Animats
Infinite interstitial ad loop.

