Abolish Copyright

I recently received a recommendation to read two speeches by Thomas McCauley in 1841 and 1842. These speeches were given to the British House of Commons as argument against a proposal to increase copyright duration to the life of the author plus 60 years. It seems that McCauley had considered all of the issues of intellectual property under discussion today and argued compellingly against this change.

Unfortunately, copyright has expanded well beyond it's initial scope and purpose.

Copyrights were initially issued for a period of 14 years - this provided sufficient time (given the technology of the day) for the publisher to recoup the costs of publication. This helped provide an incentive for people to produce (and publish) works. Once this was over, others were free to use and expand upon the (now public domain) work.

Current technology allows this process to happen much faster - copyright terms should be getting shorter, not longer. Extensions are particularly egregious - one can hardly argue that Walt Disney wouldn't have created Mickey Mouse had copyright not have lasted longer. Works that are already created need no incentive to ensure their creation.

How sad it is that one of the biggest users of public domain works (Aladdin, Atlantis, Cinderella, Davy Crockett, Hercules, Jungle Book, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Robin Hood, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Three Musketeers, Treasure Island - to name a few) is largely responsible for it's demise.