Comment Re:Theft (Score 1) 412
Firstly, I agree that 14 years or so is plenty of time for a copyright, but I'd like to comment on this point:
There is no reason to restrict works for nearly a century
The current length of copyright is approximately a lifetime, ostensibly to ensure their works can benefit the author until their death. However it's approximately the lifetime of a person. A corporation can easily live longer.
If we agree that:
a) a lifetime that is a valid length of time for copyright
b) companies can create work and/or own copyright
c) corporate person-hood is a valid concept
Then why not extend copyright to the lifetime of a corporation too? Or to generalize, the lifetime of the rights-holder... and keeping in mind that these rights are transferable, it's clear that appropriate wording would make it easy to extend copyright in perpetuity.
It's not a big leap from here to there, and I wouldn't be surprised if a draft has already been written and is in a draw somewhere today.