Klarinet Archive - Posting 000961.txt from 1999/11

From: "Jim O'Briant" <jobriant@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Asking for Help from the list
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 10:49:56 -0500

Janet wrote, in part:

> > ...the case in current Canadian copyright
> > law - retained by the heirs or the estate for
> > 50 years after the death of the
> > composer/author/artist.

Mark replied:

> The US is more restrictive for works created
> on or after 1-1-1978: Life + 70 years (or if
> work of corporate authorship, the shorter
> of 95 years from publication, or 120 years
> from creation).

There is a certain logic to this, from the creative artist's standpoint.

If I found a company and build it and make it successful, when I die I can
leave that company to my heirs. They can then continue to receive income
from what I did as a successful entrepreneur, even thought I'm dead and
buried.

So what if I write a great novel or great musical work, or paint a great
picture, or something else creative and copyrightable? I've created
something equally successful. Should I not be able to leave my copyright
to my heirs so that they can continue to receive income from what I did as
a successful creative artist, even thought I'm dead and buried?

I think the answer should be "yes." Mark Twain lobbied hard for "Perpetual
Copyright" in the Congressional hearings on copyright in 1905, but the end
result of those hearings was the old 1909 copyright law. Personally, I
think that perpetual ownership of rights to a creative endeavor is no more
unreasonable than perpetual ownership of rights to anything else -- you own
it, you can leave it to someone, and any owner can keep it, sell it, rent
it, charge a fee for its use, etc. But it won't happen.

Jim O'Briant
Bayside Music Press
Gilroy, CA

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