Doomed by Copyright

[John C]

A lot you will undoubtedly appreciate the research, here, considering there's so little real study on the economic effects of copyright.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/the-hole-in-our-collective-memory-how-copyright-made-mid-century-books-vanish/278209/

Kind of kills the "artists deserve compensation" argument, if nothing else.  It's also sort of borne out in comics, notice, with the almost complete absence of, for example, Street and Smith influence on the industry.

[Yoc]

Very interesting read.
Thanks John!

[narfstar]

Very interesting but those that matter will never take note.

[bchat]

Kind of kills the "artists deserve compensation" argument, if nothing else. 

Without any actual numbers that matter, the article does not "kill" anything, but comes across as mostly being anti-copyright propaganda.  Who cares how many editions are available of a random Public Domain work (which can be published by anyone) if, combined, a book doesn't sell enough copies to compete with any random copyrighted works?  What difference does it make if there is a huge supply of Public Domain works if there is not enough demand to warrant the books being published in the first place?

[John C]

You're looking at the wrong part of the chart, I think.  If there's nothing on the market from the '60s, say, then those writers are getting absolutely nothing for their troubles.  They get no money from licensed products and no exposure from unlicensed products.  At best, they get to play trolls under the bridge, hoping someone steals their plot so their lawyers can soak both the offender and them on a lawsuit.

You could also make an argument that the fact that something is in circulation is a sales figure.  In a remotely healthy economy, companies don't waste much time reprinting books nobody wants to read.  His numbers aren't coming from e-books, after all, where the investment is low.

[CharlieRock]

Always happy to read articles about books and copyright stuff. Thanks.
One thing I noticed about intellectual property being passed down to heirs is that it never wears out: You can inherit a kicking Mustang from your Grandpa but someday it will be worthless dust. An idea or a patented concept ... lasts forever. Maybe not the laws governing such, those can change on Man's whim. But the idea itself will always be in the same shape it was when it was first thought. Makes you wonder why parents don't push more kids to become thinkers to have something timeless to pass along to the future generations instead of pressing them into sports or something that can only buy a few nice things that crumble to dust in time.

[narfstar]

One of the joys of being a teacher is that I know I make a difference. In my 30 years of teaching, I am now teaching children of children that I taught. What jobs did I help that one get or what wisdom did I impart. I have kids coming to me in later years telling me that they quit smoking. It may not be just my anti-smoking rant that did it but they would not let me know if it had not made an impression. I hate what the state and federal governments are doing to our profession and schools and feel so sorry for todays teachers. I am soon out.