<
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/the-hole-in-our-collective-memory-how-copyright-made-mid-century-books-vanish/278209/>
"A book published during the presidency of Chester A. Arthur has a
greater chance of being in print today than one published during the
time of Reagan."
More on the impact of long copyright terms. Keeping books in print is
expensive and generally not cost-effective since few people buy books
more than a couple of years old. Consequently it doesn't make sense for
publishers to continue to make older books available unless they are
perennially popular. This means that books typically vanish into the
oubliette of "out of print" until they go out of copyright. Shorter
copyright terms (for example back to the original 7 + 7 years) might not
benefit publishers and authors, but it seems clear that it would benefit
the general public. It would also benefit authors wishing to make
derivative works.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
