
Radical copyright law reform to boost Ireland’s digital economy? - zoowar
http://siliconrepublic.com/new-media/item/21695-radical-copyright-law-refor
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swombat
Radical (and very interesting, and potentially immensely profitable for the
countries that implement it) copyright reform would be to impose severe limits
on copyright holders (such as setting a short - eg 14 years - time limit, or
even abolishing copyrights completely).

Strengthening the copyright holders' rights is not radical in any way, nor
will it do anything to boost any economy.

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adsr
Well, someone gains by making money on someone else's work. I don't see how
this can become a boost to regional economy unless it includes getting paid
for material produced in other territories. There are pretty strong arguments
to be made on getting rid of software patents (in case they have them in
Ireland) but treating them the same as copyright comes across as incompetence
IMO.

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swombat
I'm not arguing that that is necessarily the best possible end-state for
copyrights, but I do think that this sort of radical move in a western economy
would have very interesting, and probably very positive, for that country,
consequences.

For a start, a shedload of startups would spring up to monetise all the music
and movies and books that are suddenly available. They would quickly iterate
through business models before settling on whatever the customers actually
want. Once the dust settles, then it would make sense for the government to
step back in once again, and say, "ok, now we have a reasonably stable
distribution system, let's see how we can enforce some kind of compulsory
licence to ensure artists get a share of the pie too."

But the only way to get there is first to eliminate the current copyright
holders, shove them out of the picture entirely.

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adsr
Yeah but if company A spends x million in production budget, how is it fair
for company B to sell the product without paying company A? Or perhaps A isn't
a company but an author or software developer.

My point was that this isn't creating a boost in an economy because while B
makes money, A loses money. How about these startups creating something of
value them selves, that they can then sell?

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swombat
You're seeing one point of view, I'm seeing another.

If art piece X is available for people to see and think about, why is artist Y
not allowed to use it to create even better art? Why is company Z not allowed
to figure out even better ways to monetise it?

You probably think the money lost by A is greater than the money gained by Y
and Z. I think that's not true - a lot of great art is derivative, and a lot
of interesting business models around art have not been explored because the
incumbents (A) resist it.

You could also argue that A won't be incentivised to produce the art, but...
actually, if only one country does this, that's not true.

PS: China doesn't count, yet, for two reasons: 1) it's not a western democracy
with a long tradition of western-style art and copyright and a hunger to
innovate on the art distribution models; 2) copyright theft is not actually
legal there, it's still illegal, just loosely enforced; that prevents real
legit businesses from emerging in that space.

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adsr
Your first point is related to patents, not copyright, moreover patents
doesn't exist in art. You can for example make a painting of a duck, which
get's me inspired to make a painting of a duck with a hat, that is perfectly
fine.

So you think that taking for example Microsoft Word, re-package it in a new
box call it "Awsome word 2011" and re-sell it at half price should be ok?
Without any cost associated with the production what so ever, that would be
possible. You can still invent a new distribution plattform, look at amazon
for example, you just have to pitch it to the owner whose products you are
going to sell, and of course pay them, that is how all trade works. How can
selling someone elses work, make a profit, and not paying them be morally
justified?

Regarding China, the point is that the effect on foreign relations could be
similar in regards to copyright.

