[consulting] Guilds vs. Unions

[Steven Scotten]

On Aug 11, 2009, at 8:22 AM, Sheryl wrote:

> Steve Scotten wrote:
>
>> I'm all for reducing limits on copyright (25-40 years regardless of
>> the life of the author sounds reasonable to me), but wholeheartedly
>> against the "just scrap it" mentality reformers seem to have.
>
> The US became a signatory of the Berne Convention (basically "life +  
> 50
> years" except for photography and movies)in the late 80s, so I would  
> think
> going back to the shorter copyright terms unlikely.

I agree. Nevertheless, if the problem is the length of copyright  
terms, then length of copyright terms are what needs to be addressed.  
Saying that it's unlikely to happen is a lousy excuse for making  
copyright law so toothless it may as well not exist... except for big  
household-name corporations, for whom it will protect only their works  
while they take others' works with impunity.

The solution to a problem is never to make it worse. And if copyright  
goes (or is made ineffective) so goes GPL in all its forms.


Steve