Posted by Paul Rubin on 12/05/06 05:43

"PTravel" <ptravel@travelersvideo.com> writes:
> > No amendment to the constitution would be needed to make all
> > copyrights expire 24 hours after being issued, or to stop issuing them
> > altogether.
>
> True, but that's not going to happen. Why in the world should a copyright
> expire after 24 hours, or not issue at all?

Well, you were the one that brought up constitutional amendments. I'm
pointing out that no amendment would be needed to make such a change.
Whether such a change is desirable is a political question, and as
with any such question, opinions vary.

> I'm not quite sure what you mean by "set back to where it was."
> However, again, there is no reason to limit exclusivity, nor is it
> likely to happen.

The scope of exclusivity conferred by a copyright has varied
considerably (mostly increasing) over the centuries. We have not
quite reached this point, but we are getting there:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43029

For a general introduction to the issues, see the book "Free Culture"
by Prof. Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law School, downloadable from

http://free-culture.org
http://www.free-culture.cc/freeculture.pdf (pdf download link)
http://free-culture.org/remixes/ (other formats)

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