Do Writers Believe In Shorter Copyright Terms?

I’ve seen quite a bit of discussion about how copyright terms are just too long. The original copyright term length was 14 years. Currently, the term length is up to the author’s life plus 90 years! Change begins with the actions of a few, and writers are possibly in the best position to do something about it.

The idea with the original copyright law is that creators of intellectual works should be given exclusive rights “for a limited time” so that they can earn some money on their creations. This is a very logical, and noble goal. But, the “limited time” part of the Constitution was left up to Congress. Technically, the current term length of life+90 is a limited time. But, there’s really no reason to believe that it won’t be extended again in another 10 years.

Numerous sites discuss the value of the public domain, so I won’t get into that here. I’ll just say that our culture as a whole can benefit and be enriched through the public domain, while still giving authors an incentive to create.

Changing the current system will be difficult. Ultimately, changing the system will require changing the law. The lobby for a robust public domain will have to be more convincing than the lobbies for the entertainment and software industries. It seems unlikely that industries that collectively take in tens of billions of dollars a year will allow us to gain much traction with Congress. So, perhaps a change can come via the content creators themselves?

Copyright on movies and music are typically owned by the studios and record companies. Writers, on the other hand, often own the copyrights on their books and license the books for exclusive distribution by some publisher. That puts writers on better footing, and in a position to possibly negotiate a contract that stipulates that after 14 years rights to the book will go to the public domain.

Would anyone unilaterally take that step? For many writers, their books go out of print after a couple of years anyhow. Currently, those writers don’t see any more money from the book at that point. It seems like those writers may appreciate the broader exposure that they would gain from eventually releasing their works into the public domain.

If an author like Stephen King took the step of releasing his works into the public domain after 14 years, that would send a powerful message to people about the value of the public domain. King is one of the few authors that is so well known that his works stay in print after 14 years. Would he be willing to give up that residual income?

With everything that’s going on in digital rights management now, the question of copyright term length is more important than ever. If copyright terms were 14 years, anyone could sing “Happy Birthday” without a license agreement, anyone could download and read a copy of The Shining or an MP3 of a Beatles tune, or write a derivative work of Gone With The Wind. It’s not about getting stuff for free, though. It’s about rewarding creators for a limited time and then building up a rich public domain.