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What duration of time do you connect to intellectual property? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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It's one thing that copyright/IP is such a matter of debate in the creative world, but a whole new layer is added onto that when people say that it only matters for a certain amount of time. You may have read all those articles a few months ago, the same ones telling us about how Mickey Mouse (technically Steamboat Willy) is now up for grabs 95 years after his creation.

There are those who say "as long as it's popular it shouldn't be pirated", those who say "as long as the creator is around", those who don't apply a set frame, etc. I've even seen people say they wouldn't dare redistribute paleolithic paintings because it was their spark on the world. What philosophy of statutes of limitation make the most sense to you when it comes to creative work?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I've always felt that it should be the lifetime of the creator and if there's no heir established to carry the reigns of the IP - then public domain. Companies like Disney love to lobby and push that number and have pushed that number to ridiculous lengths so that it's like 500 years (exaggerated since we know it's like 90+).

Because say the creator dies, they have not picked a heir or that they don't have anyone to entrust with, with their IP. It gets funneled through the state's laws of inestate succession.

However, what we mostly have seen is when an owner does give up the rights and it's in the hands of greedy mongrels like Disney. What happens is that the IP is just in a cycle of re-release hell just to keep whatever trademark or copyright alive, doesn't matter about the quality which is usually shit.

And in the video games industry, we've seen copyrights to games that will never see the light of day. Copyrights and IP rights get hot potato'ed all the time because there's so many people involved that it complicates things whenever a creator dies or vice versa. It's why we haven't seen digital releases for No One Lives Forever 1 and 2.

So, copyright has unnecessarily made things complex to where IPs are just used as extensive methods of profit, some of which aren't even being directed to the original creators. Which makes me feel like copyright should just be the lifetime of the creator and then outsourced to public domain.