[p2p-research] Google Book Search litigation is a Digital Nightmare

[Andy Robinson]

Personally, if they aren't going to actually abolish copyright, I'd like to
see copyright periods drastically reduced, or at least given a sunset period
within which a company has to reprint a book or lose copyright.  The same
thing for other media in which de facto turnover is even faster.

There's a ridiculous discrepancy in the situation where bestselling books
are available on Amazon for $0.01 a few months after their issuing,
effectively losing their market value, but can't be reproduced freely until
decades after the author's death.  Ditto with other media.  Films for
example are normally available free on television within a couple of years
of their initial release.  Not only video games, but video game systems,
become obsolete within a few years.  Toys typically become collectable some
time after being commercially available, with substantial demand but no new
supply.  With very rare exceptions, none of these things are reissued
commercially, so copyright is having little benefit for the owners.
Meanwhile, the market undergoes a glut which is sometimes followed by a
massive scarcity in which items are only available second-hand and cost a
ridiculous amount.  In practice all this is worked around by means of
digitising and making available through filesharing or on websites (as
"abandonware" in the case of games), but on a strict reading this is in
breach of copyright.  In cases where expense would be incurred to meet the
demand (as with toys), this usually means sales at a profit, and full-scale
piracy.

Suppose for instance that copyright could only be exercised for five or ten
years after the last commercial release of a product by the copyright
holder.  If something remained commercially viable, it could be rereleased
indefinitely; ditto if a company perversely decided it wanted to retain
copyright indefinitely, all it would have to do is keep a product
available.  If it was not renewed, it would be considered commercially
unviable and hence put out of copyright for others to make available either
for free or at-cost/low-profit.

I'd prefer to see copyright got rid of entirely, which would have positive
revolutionary effects, but which raises ideological heckles about motivation
to produce and seriously pisses off vested interests.  I could see a sunset
copyright arrangement being more likely to be accepted without rocking
prevalent assumptions.  I suppose it would move towards a 'rewarded service
provision' model of how private enterprise can work - the privilege of
profit comes as reward for effectively meeting a need or demand, and is
correspondingly conditional on continuing to do so.
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