I ended up in an interesting discussion on copyright on Twitter this last weekend.
It started with a tweet from timoreilly about economists calculating the optimum length of copyright. I responded that I felt that 14 years for copyright was not so hot for bereaved families that depend on royalties (for the rare worthy work).
Tim felt that “Best solution: allow unlimited renewal (w fee), IMO. Lets people w real economic interest keep it, while preserving public domain” and I agreed: “that makes sense, 14 years is plenty to determine longer term potential and choosing batween renewal or lapse/philanthropy”
However, a few others then came into the exchange. After bouncing around terms for a while, there was finally a reference to a rather well debated session in parliament which I felt summed things up nicely.
