"WHAT if, after you had paid the taxes on earnings with which you built a house, sales taxes on the materials, real estate taxes during your life, and inheritance taxes at your death, the government would eventually commandeer it entirely?"
A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn't Its Copyright? by Mark Helprin
Helprin uses this quote to demonstrate how flawed the system of transferring copyrighted materials to public domain after a specific period of time. He goes on to further demonstrate that while ideas and material may become more easily accessible to the public, behind the scenes, a transfer of wealth is occurring. Book Selling companies and distributors are now able to profit of of public-domain versions of books. This results from not having to pay publishing fees.
Sadly those that created the materials and their kin can no longer benefit financially from what was created. Now, corporations are receiving wealth from someone else's work all in the name of "the greater good of the public.
I believe that there are some benefits of the public domain system. New artists are able to build upon past works. For Example,
"Homer’s The Odyssey has given us Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Joyce’s Ulysses, and the Coen Brothers’O Brother Where Art Thou?" *
In situations, such as the example above, public domain has been a beneficial device. However, in today's society, I believe that the system must be modified in order to provide greater protection of people and properties.
*The center for the Study of Public Domain http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/pddfaq#q01
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