*Editor’s note: Ian Hodge is a regular columnist for Business Reform Magazine, the leading Christian business magazine with over 100,000 readers. Each issue of Business Reform features practical advice on operating successfully in business while glorifying God.
Copyright has come under the spotlight with recent applications by Disney and Gershwin heirs to extend copyright on original concepts such as Mickey Mouse, or, in the case of Gershwin, music compositions. The Federal Government has decided to extend copyright by a further 20 years, giving Disney, for example, the chance to have another 20-year monopoly over the production and use of Mickey Mouse.
Copyright is an attempt to establish ownership in ideas and concepts. It is an extension of the idea of ownership of goods and chattels, and grants the originator of a book or a piece of music, for example, the right to exclusive use for a period of 70 years. In some parts of the world it is only 50 years, creating a legal nightmare now that borders are crossed so easily with published material on the Internet.
In some instances, copyright is used by publishers to create market share arrangements. A book might be published in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom publisher will have distribution rights in a country such as Australia. Australia retailers will be unable to choose between the US or the UK publication, and they will be forced to take from the publisher who has the distribution rights for the region. Often, when the book is unavailable from the “official” publisher, it is still illegal for a retailer to purchase from another publisher. Copyright, in this instance, is used to protect markets.
In our criticism of big government it is often easy to overlook good legislation and policy amongst the objectionable. In this instance, we think the government got it right.
The book of Wisdom says: ”A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” Copyright is thus a form of transference of intellectual property from generation to generation. There is no biblical case for limiting this to 70 years, thereby giving everyone free access to other people’s property.
Property and family go together. Families should be able to transfer their wealth to future generations of the family, give it away, or leave it to someone else or a charity of their choosing. The right to dispossess is the key to ownership, and the legislators, while not granting perpetual ownership, have at least left the doorway ajar for future copyright owners to claim a little more longevity.
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