Bears Armed wrote:UNDERSTANDING that the primary purpose of copyright is to promote the creation of new works;
NOTING that it is very difficult to motivate people who have been dead for a quarter century;
PUZZLED why the World Assembly nonetheless insists upon this as the minimum term for copyright;
“You don't think that knowing that even if you die the day after your book is published your family (or other designated heirs) will still get to enjoy the royalties from it for 25 years after that could help to provide motivation? If you make copyrights 'lifetime-only' instead then anybody who's elderly and/or seriously ill might feel a reduced motivation to spend some of what might be their final days writing...”
"A good point", Lord Raekevik said and nodded, "but given the diversity of species and cultures within the WA and vast differences in lifespan, it would seem to me that 25 years may have very different significance in different member states; to some 25 years may feel like an eternity while to others it may seem like a fleeting moment. Is it not rather crude to mandate that so diverse member states all have the same minimum term for copyright?"