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<< "There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back."
- Robert A. Heinlein >>
Thoughts, comments welcome. >>
That quote is from Life Line, one of Heinlein's earliest published works (1939?). In it, a scientist invents a machine which can predict the exact time and date of an individual's death. Naturally, the life insurance companies are none too pleased with this new invention. After all, what value is life insurance if an individual knows exactly when he is going to die? The insurance companies sue and the quote above is from the judge in that court (IIRC, Life Line is a ~30 page short story, I haven't read it in about 5 years, but I always loved and remembered that passage).
Heinlein was an author (obviously) who lived off the royalties from his copyrighted, published works. With his well-known opinion on theft ("I'm too stinking proud to steal," To Sail Beyond the Sunset), I'm very sure that he was (or would have been) against piracy, but he would have been completely against expansive federal laws like the CBDTPA. After all, he was the person who coined the phrase "A state-supported artist is an incompetent whore."
<< Article 1, Sec. 8: The Congress shall have Power [clause 7] "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" >>
Exactly, limited times.
My personal opinion is that copyrights and patents should go back to being to individuals ONLY, not corporations, and that they should last only as long as the original artist/inventor/author is still alive. This new push to make copyrights and patents permanent is outrageous. While I fully support the right of authors/artists/inventors to be compensated for their works, it should be rememberd that there is no truly original work. Shakespeare never had an original plot, James Watt didn't invent the steam engine (he merely improved it), Thomas Edison didn't invent the electric light bulb (he found the best filament), and Disney still hasn't paid the estates of the Brothers Grimm.