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Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

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Re: Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

#131

Post by nordsieck »

tom_ wrote: post #79
nordsieck wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All copyright is way too long but authors go completely off-piste at anyone who suggests that it should be something more reasonable (I kinda like 21 years myself). > Part of the issue is that the loudest voices are that 0.01% of authors whose work still has some commercial value decades after its creation. My favorite scheme is that all copyright last for 10 years by default. You can register it for $100 for anoth…

Once the free period expires, start at $1, then double each year.

> Once the free period expires, start at $1, then double each year.

That's going to create a lot of paperwork for not much value. Much better to have 10 year extensions. Your pricing scheme is functionally equivalent to starting at $2000 for 10 years, and increasing the cost by 1000x for each additional 10 years.

Re: Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

#132

Post by nordsieck »

mlyle wrote: post #41
nostromo wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This scheme seems to protect the largest companies with the largest bank accounts the most. Why would we want a system like that? I actually have the opposite view: I'm more worried about a small-time author that say, makes living on a low-volume text or training book, than I am protecting Mickey Mouse.

It's nice to make works that no longer have commercial value enter the public domain by default. Another justification: if the harms increase for giving an author exclusivity for a longer time, society should demand a larger payback. This may only be justified for the most prominent works It feels a little out of calibration. How about free for 20 years; $500 for 10 more, and then 100x for every 10 additional years.…

> It feels a little out of calibration. How about free for 20 years; $500 for 10 more ... Everyone gets 30 years to exploit a work for a reasonable price

IMO, it's important to have a short default period. The vast majority of content - posts, comments, videos, tweets, open source software, etc. will never be registered. It's a huge benefit to get that into the public domain as fast as possible while still providing a reasonable period of exclusivity to creators.

If you're really wedded to the 30 year thing, I think an initial 10 years, and 20 years for the first registered period is a better balance.

Re: Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

#133

Post by growingkittens »

93po wrote: post #129
growingkittens wrote: post #122

I think copyright law should be different for originators vs. owning individuals vs. legal entities. Once the legal rights of a work are separated from the originator, the work should pass to the public domain faster.

They'd just sell it as a perpetual or 100 year lease instead then.

An originator could lease their work, but only as long as they own the rights to it. Perpetual leases wouldn't be possible. When an originator dies before their copyright does, for instance, the work is transferred to a separate entity and thus has a defined time limit.

Re: Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

#134

Post by njloof »

growingkittens wrote: post #122

I think copyright law should be different for originators vs. owning individuals vs. legal entities. Once the legal rights of a work are separated from the originator, the work should pass to the public domain faster.

France and Germany recognize the creators’ moral rights to the work; maybe the relevant law there would be a good starting point

Re: Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

#135

Post by markx2 »

tarek_computer wrote: post #59
markx2 wrote: post #42

Have been gaming since the mid 80's and text adventures were a main feature. Years later and I owned Lost Treasures 1 and 2 then the Masterpieces CD. I topped that with IUB.zip - pretty much everything Infocom. Jason Scott then produced Get Lamp - I have a coin - which brought so much of that era together. I view text adventures, be they Infocom, Level 9 or others, as an inspiration to others. A re-release could only…

Cool. Curious about IUB.zip. Can you share more details when to find it.

Infocom Universe Bootleg is 397.5MB

A yandex search will reveal various torrent links.

It should unzip to six folders;

Bonus Games

Infocom Games

Infocom InvisiClues

Infocom Universe Bootleg.nfo

IUB Database

Software Tools

Re: Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

#136

Post by mlyle »

nordsieck wrote: post #132
mlyle wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's nice to make works that no longer have commercial value enter the public domain by default. Another justification: if the harms increase for giving an author exclusivity for a longer time, society should demand a larger payback. This may only be justified for the most prominent works It feels a little out of calibration. How about free for 20 years; $500 for 10 more, and then 100x for every 10 additional years.…

> It feels a little out of calibration. How about free for 20 years; $500 for 10 more ... Everyone gets 30 years to exploit a work for a reasonable price IMO, it's important to have a short default period. The vast majority of content - posts, comments, videos, tweets, open source software, etc. will never be registered. It's a huge benefit to get that into the public domain as fast as possible while still providing…

On the other hand, some kinds of work may not really make it to market inside the 10 years. It's all tough compromises.

I'm sure we can agree that we can definitely do better than what we have now, though. Let's not make perfect the enemy of good.

Re: Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

#137

Post by nordsieck »

mlyle wrote: post #136
nordsieck wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It feels a little out of calibration. How about free for 20 years; $500 for 10 more ... Everyone gets 30 years to exploit a work for a reasonable price IMO, it's important to have a short default period. The vast majority of content - posts, comments, videos, tweets, open source software, etc. will never be registered. It's a huge benefit to get that into the public domain as fast as possible while still providing…

On the other hand, some kinds of work may not really make it to market inside the 10 years. It's all tough compromises. I'm sure we can agree that we can definitely do better than what we have now, though. Let's not make perfect the enemy of good.

> On the other hand, some kinds of work may not really make it to market inside the 10 years.

My understanding is that copyright starts when the work is first fixed to a medium. Which means that intermediate versions shouldn't start the clock[1]. But I'm not a lawyer, so I could be totally wrong.

> I'm sure we can agree that we can definitely do better than what we have now, though.

100% concur.

---

1. As opposed to the situation with medication and patents, where the patents are ticking down while trials are in operation.

Re: Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

#138

Post by mlyle »

nordsieck wrote: post #137
mlyle wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, some kinds of work may not really make it to market inside the 10 years. It's all tough compromises. I'm sure we can agree that we can definitely do better than what we have now, though. Let's not make perfect the enemy of good.

> On the other hand, some kinds of work may not really make it to market inside the 10 years. My understanding is that copyright starts when the work is first fixed to a medium. Which means that intermediate versions shouldn't start the clock[1]. But I'm not a lawyer, so I could be totally wrong. > I'm sure we can agree that we can definitely do better than what we have now, though. 100% concur. --- 1. As opposed to…

> Which means that intermediate versions shouldn't start the clock

No, but an initial time presenting a form of the work will. So, e.g. using the basis for a future textbook with your students starts the clock on those versions.

Re: Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

#139

Post by 93po »

growingkittens wrote: post #133
93po wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'd just sell it as a perpetual or 100 year lease instead then.

An originator could lease their work, but only as long as they own the rights to it. Perpetual leases wouldn't be possible. When an originator dies before their copyright does, for instance, the work is transferred to a separate entity and thus has a defined time limit.

Wouldn't everyone just create a corporation and assign all their work to that from conception? Corporations never die.

Re: Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea

#140

Post by timbit42 »

m463 wrote: post #83
WillPostForFood wrote: post #25

Activision is also actively selling the Zork collection on Steam. I'd expect that to show up on Gamepass. It includes: Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, Beyond Zork, Zork Zero, and Planetfall https://store.steampowered.com/app/570580/Zork_Anthology/

also on GOG, DRM-free: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_zork_anthology

It's also DRM-free on my Commodore 64.
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