We have been told that copyright makes it possible that authors can live from their hard work. This interest needs to be balanced against the needs of the common good. It is known that free access to information encourages innovation.
Some works need more time to generate revenue for the authors, others hit the market furiously and could be released after a short time.
Therefore I propose a minimal copyright time of 5 years from the date of publication. After that the owner sets a yearly fee to be paid by the owner. Someone can buy the work out of copyright by paying a multiple of the fee.
Say the copyright should last around 75 years. The owner declares to pay a fee of $10,000 the first year after the minimum of 5 years. The multiplicator could be then 70. If someone pays the owner $700,000 the book will immediately and irreversibly fall into public domain.
We have been told that copyright makes it possible that authors can live from their hard work. This interest needs to be balanced against the needs of the common good. It is known that free access to information encourages innovation.
Some works need more time to generate revenue for the authors, others hit the market furiously and could be released after a short time.
Therefore I propose a minimal copyright time of 5 years from the date of publication. After that the owner sets a yearly fee to be paid by the owner. Someone can buy the work out of copyright by paying a multiple of the fee.
Say the copyright should last around 75 years. The owner declares to pay a fee of $10,000 the first year after the minimum of 5 years. The multiplicator could be then 70. If someone pays the owner $700,000 the book will immediately and irreversibly fall into public domain.