Copyright: How should ownership be structured?

Author Lewis Hyde.


















Hyde laughs



Hyde: You're welcome.

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I agree for the most part, but there are a few points where this was deficient. First, you should more clearly distinguish between copyright and patents, and the term "intellectual property" should be taken out and shot---the only thing in common between copyrights and patents is that federal authority to grant those monopolies comes from the same phrase in the constitution. Second, I do think that in general an author or artist should be granted copyright for his or her lifetime, and perhaps a few years beyond that. But third, we need to have a reasoned discussion of the extent to which copyright-holders should be able to control the production of "derivative works." And fourth, it's impossible to *read* something from a computer, cell phone, or e-book reader without making several copies, which are controlled by current copyright law. Giving authors the right to control who *reads* their work is something the Founders never dreamed of. This is a problem that we desperately need to solve, even more than the practically indefinite extension of copyright terms (which I, as a reader of limited means, particularly object to).


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