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Comment by latexr | Hacker News Reader

> 20 years is short enough for someone to wait for it to expire rather than pay a licensing fee.

“Someone” might, but most people won’t. Do you think studios are going to announce the next blockbuster and most people will be like “eh, I’ll just wait 20 years, maybe I’ll have a kid and raise them until adulthood to pass the time”?

Portal is going to be 20 next year. I bought Portal 1 and 2 for a couple of bucks like a decade ago already.

I’d even say 20 years default is two long. Especially because there are things which are just abandoned. Make it shorter and add limited options to renew for limited time.

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You're assuming copyright exists to protect studios first. No, it protects everyone equally. A studio can't take a 20 year old story and make a blockbuster out of it without licensing the story. That is precisely what would happen with a short-term copyright system. It won't be that studios will wait 20 years, they'll just look predominantly at 20 year old publications to see what just became available.

The studio doesn't need to, they're powerful enough to change it enough to be legally distinct and advertise it enough that people forget the original.

> No, it protects everyone equally.

That is a laughable fantasy. It protects those with money and legal resources to enforce it, and that’s it.

I’m reminded of the case where some late night show played a video they found online as part of a segment, then later were able to copyright strike the original video. The original creator, being an individual, had no recourse.

> A studio can't take a 20 year old story and make a blockbuster out of it without licensing the story.

Again, laughable. Disney has done it but was never sued for being too big. It was done to Harlan Ellison too (who did spend years fighting it and won). Ripoffs happens frequently, you don’t hear about them that much precisely because studios in general know to rip off those without the means to put up a fight.

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

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