Gilder Publishing, LLC
How can a man sound so reasonable and then propose to hack the crap out of current copyright laws?
Professor Lessig proposes that we restrict copyright on published works to five years, and allow the copyright to be renewed fifteen times.
How _dare_ he?! Under his proposal the burden lays on me to claim my works every five years or they pass into the public domain. Ludicrous! Must I tell passersby that my car belongs to me? And if I fail to tell everyone, does my car pass into the public domain?
His argument is that the current system of author’s life + 70 years is too restrictive. He claims that by having all this content squirreled away, protected by copyright, we are stifling creativity. He claims that we creative folks need to have unrestricted access to previous works in order to create our own works. What bullshit!
I utterly reject the idea that I cannot create a creative work without sampling from works that have come before.
It is true thet I am influenced by everything I have read or listened to or looked at. But is my work just an amalgamation of these influnces? Absolutely not! I draw upon these influences to shape my own work — a work that is wholly new and unique — a work that I have created and should own _forever_.
If I design and build a chair, I own that chair. It’s mine forever because I made it. If i write and record a song, I should own that recording of that song forever, because it is the product of my labor. Why should I have to re-state my claim to my song when I don’t have to re-state my claim to my chair?
Now, having written and recorded my song, I should be able to sell or give it away for free as I wish. I should also be able to pass the copyright on to my heirs and to allow them to profit from it or not as they see fit.
Does any of this negate the right of another person to listen to my song? No. Nor does it prohibit that person from being influenced by that song. That person is then perfectly free to make another song that is infuenced by my song — or even use a sample of my song if they obtain my permission which I should be free to give or deny as I see fit.
Rant over. Am I full of shit? I doubt it. But feel free to poke all manner of sticks in my argument. Maybe you will find a hole.