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What will enter the public domain in 2022

publicdomainreview.org

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Re: What will enter the public domain in 2022

#91

Post by jedberg »

irrational wrote: post #90
jedberg wrote: post #82

This comes up every year so I ask a question: If you could fix copyright, how would you do it? Here is what I would do: 1. All works must be registered in a government registry. If it's not in there it's not copyrighted. If you want to register a work from before the law passes, you have to prove you own it under the current system. This would solve the orphan works problem -- if no one can prove they own it, it beco…

Year 8: 8-5 = 3, so 3% of revenue (from that year or from the previous 3 or 8 years?) Year 11: 11-5 = 6, so 6% of revenue (from that year or from the previous 3 years?) 14 : 9% of revenue ... 103 : 98% of revenue 106 : 101% of revenue If minimum revenue is $100, you wouldn't pay that much until year 103. But would it remain at $100 at year 106 onwards? Edited: fixed math to subtract 5 years instead of 3.

Year 8: 8-5 = 3, so 3% of revenue (from that year or from the previous 3 or 8 years?)

3% of the last three years of revenue (first 5 years you keep everything)

Year 11: 11-5 = 6, so 6% of revenue (from that year or from the previous 3 years?)

Previous 3 years.

14 : 9% of revenue ... 103 : 100% of revenue

Check your math. :). Year 103 would be 103-5=98%

106 : 103% of revenue

Same math issue.

> If minimum revenue is $100, you wouldn't pay that much until year 103. But would it remain at $100 at year 106 onwards?

Minimum fee is $100. Every 3 years you pay at least $100 to keep the copyright.

Re: What will enter the public domain in 2022

#92

Post by duskwuff »

nbabitskiy wrote: post #81
bombastry wrote: post #10

In addition to its annoying layout, this site bizarrely decides to mix public domain works from the various different major copyright systems together (life + 50 years, life + 70 years, the old American system of 95 years). For example, Nabokov's first novel in Russian, Mary, is listed because it was published in 1926; he died in 1977 which means in virtually every non-American country, that work will still be copyri…

Are there any countries that enforce copyright as much as the US do? I have no idea when a book legally enters public domain in Russia, since any book I can think of is a couple clicks away. Literally anything: Nabokov, Rowling, etc Edit: come to think of it, it's pretty universal. Libgen and bookfi are not exactly Russian. There's probably little difference whether a book is public domain unless you want to make a m…

> There's probably little difference whether a book is public domain unless you want to make a movie.

Or if you want to publish other works based on the book: a translation, a critical edition, a compilation, a graphic novel...

Re: What will enter the public domain in 2022

#93

Post by kazinator »

evandwight wrote: post #85
jedberg wrote: post #82

This comes up every year so I ask a question: If you could fix copyright, how would you do it? Here is what I would do: 1. All works must be registered in a government registry. If it's not in there it's not copyrighted. If you want to register a work from before the law passes, you have to prove you own it under the current system. This would solve the orphan works problem -- if no one can prove they own it, it beco…

How do you handle things without revenue?

Revenue can be used to determine the cap on the actual damages that may be awarded in a successful copyright infringement suit.

Moreover, copyright suits should only allow actual damages + cease and desist (copying).

Thus, if the work has no proven revenue, and the copyright holder sues someone for infringement, the only remedy they will obtain from the court is an order instructing the defendant to stop the copying.

Copyright lawsuits where no actual damages can be awarded wouldn't even go before a judge necessarily. There could be a hearing and some summary decision handed down: you assert the copyright, and the defendant is served the prohibition order. If fees were awarded to the plaintiff, they would be limited to absolutely minimal amounts related to the filing of affidavits and whatnot (documented by receipts from the court registry); the system would not allow some copyright troll to act in collusion with lawyers in order to rack up legal fees to extract from defendants.

Re: What will enter the public domain in 2022

#94

Post by ars »

jedberg wrote: post #82

This comes up every year so I ask a question: If you could fix copyright, how would you do it? Here is what I would do: 1. All works must be registered in a government registry. If it's not in there it's not copyrighted. If you want to register a work from before the law passes, you have to prove you own it under the current system. This would solve the orphan works problem -- if no one can prove they own it, it beco…

My ideas are quite different from yours. First I would drastically shorten the time, and not link to the life of the author, instead I would have fixed time from first release, with a max of 40 years. The current amount is simply way too long, 40 years is a normal "economically productive" time for a typical person, longer than that is not necessary.

Registration is a good idea, but I would do it different. Everyone gets 20 years automatically for free, with no registration needed. (Small players, for example I write an essay and put it on a website, need to be protected. You don't want to force 12 year old students to deal with registering their works.) After that you can pay to register a work, a fixed fee that goes up each year for the final 20 years.

My issue with your idea is people holding things, and refusing to sell them - for example old software. It's illegal to distribute, but also it's not for sale. So rather than going by revenue (which would be 0 here), have a fixed amount, $100 is not enough.

I also don't like percent of revenue - that's basically taxes, people already pay that, there's little point in doing it via copyright. What's the issue you are trying to solve with percent of revenue, that is not also solved with a fixed amount?

Re: What will enter the public domain in 2022

#95

Post by [deleted] »

nbabitskiy wrote: post #81
bombastry wrote: post #10

In addition to its annoying layout, this site bizarrely decides to mix public domain works from the various different major copyright systems together (life + 50 years, life + 70 years, the old American system of 95 years). For example, Nabokov's first novel in Russian, Mary, is listed because it was published in 1926; he died in 1977 which means in virtually every non-American country, that work will still be copyri…

Are there any countries that enforce copyright as much as the US do? I have no idea when a book legally enters public domain in Russia, since any book I can think of is a couple clicks away. Literally anything: Nabokov, Rowling, etc Edit: come to think of it, it's pretty universal. Libgen and bookfi are not exactly Russian. There's probably little difference whether a book is public domain unless you want to make a m…

[deleted]

Re: What will enter the public domain in 2022

#96

Post by gpm »

jedberg wrote: post #82

This comes up every year so I ask a question: If you could fix copyright, how would you do it? Here is what I would do: 1. All works must be registered in a government registry. If it's not in there it's not copyrighted. If you want to register a work from before the law passes, you have to prove you own it under the current system. This would solve the orphan works problem -- if no one can prove they own it, it beco…

Measuring revenue sounds like a total pain in the ass, and sounds ripe for "hollywood accounting", and like a pointless jobs program for lawyers and accountants. How do you measure the revenue gained from the copyright on iOS? The total value of the devices it is sold on? Some arbitrary percentage? What about the copyright on a piece of artwork selling tickets to a gallery? Or for that matter a movie, with movie tickets, and merchandise? Or a song performed live as part of a concert?

I'd suggest a different system, you have to name a "public domain bounty" for the work, and pay X% of that per year (+$100). At any time anyone can pay that bounty and the work reverts to the public domain (so that they, and everyone else, can use it). You can, of course, adjust the bounty as it becomes more or less valuable for you to keep the work private.

The government keeps all the money (to avoid perverse incentives to raise bounties if you expect someone to pay it).

---

Edit: But I'm much less ambitious than you, if you asked me how to fix copyright from scratch, my answer would be "reduce the term to 10 years, and require registration". It's not perfect, but it's simple.

Re: What will enter the public domain in 2022

#97

Post by FalconSensei »

Oh, cool. A list of things that doesn't allow me to see the full list. GREAT and useless. The advent calendar thing is interesting, and I can see a parallel with waiting for this to waiting for the public domain. But it's just useless and makes me just go to google/wikipedia to get the actual list

Re: What will enter the public domain in 2022

#99

Post by bcgraham »

jedberg wrote: post #82

This comes up every year so I ask a question: If you could fix copyright, how would you do it? Here is what I would do: 1. All works must be registered in a government registry. If it's not in there it's not copyrighted. If you want to register a work from before the law passes, you have to prove you own it under the current system. This would solve the orphan works problem -- if no one can prove they own it, it beco…

If you went this route, I’d push it out farther and make the cut steeper. Maybe after 20 years you start doing X%, where X is (Years - 20)*2.

I really don’t want to make it harder for people to survive on their creative output for their whole careers. But that’s the focus: providing for a family, maybe even fabulously, but for one generation only.

Re: What will enter the public domain in 2022

#100

Post by cpach »

nbabitskiy wrote: post #81
bombastry wrote: post #10

In addition to its annoying layout, this site bizarrely decides to mix public domain works from the various different major copyright systems together (life + 50 years, life + 70 years, the old American system of 95 years). For example, Nabokov's first novel in Russian, Mary, is listed because it was published in 1926; he died in 1977 which means in virtually every non-American country, that work will still be copyri…

Are there any countries that enforce copyright as much as the US do? I have no idea when a book legally enters public domain in Russia, since any book I can think of is a couple clicks away. Literally anything: Nabokov, Rowling, etc Edit: come to think of it, it's pretty universal. Libgen and bookfi are not exactly Russian. There's probably little difference whether a book is public domain unless you want to make a m…

“ Are there any countries that enforce copyright as much as the US do?”

I’d say definitely yes. Most western countries are very similar in this regard.

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