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Re: Sunday, August 18, 2002
Copyright is a tradeoff between the government and the people. Government, of the people, by the people, for the people, gives a monopoly and the people get knowledge. This is the whole purpose of copyright - to benefit the people. I think this is key. Copyright holders are granted monopolies by the people. Indefinite copyright protection defeats the purpose of copyright. Yes, the public may get ideas, but this isn't relevant to copyright law because one cannot copyright ideas. Copyright protects the implementation of ideas. This is a political/social argument against indefinite copyright. A legal argument against indefinite copyright is the violation of the Constitution - the "limited Times" clause. This is why Jack Valenti would like copyright to be "forever minus a day". The economic argument against indefinite copyright is that monopolies decrease net social benefit. And let's not gloss over the fact that copyright is goverment-sponsored monopoly. It is communism at its finest and it's written into the Constitution. (I personally find it ironic that those who cheer for capitalism the loudest are also the one's who want goverment-backed monopolies to help them out.) Economically, society wants to grant copyright (and patents) for a length of term that will maximize net social benefit. Indefinite copyright does not maximize net social benefit. The most compelling brief filed in the Eldred case is not Lessig's brief, but the brief of a wide range of economists who show that extending the copyright term does not confer social benefit to society. Indeed, I believe most economists would claim that 75 years of protection would not maximize net social benefit and is thus is too long. Finally, what would happen if, heaven forbid, a developer passed away suddenly? All of his work is protected by indefinite copyright. Legally, the developer's work would be essentially locked in a vault perpetually. Society would never be able to benefit from the developer's copyrighted work. This is destruction of knowledge and a social loss. And copyright's goal is to serve the public, not the copyright holder.
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