John Degen's Globe and Mail essay declares that there is no copyright crisis. Degen is the head of the Professional Writers Association of Canada.
Who Needs Copyright, Anyway?
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It’s not about getting material for free. If that were true, iTunes should not exist in the face of free competition. It’s not about abolishing or fighting copyright.
It’s about content providers embracing new business models instead of embracing new technologies that reduce the value of content for the consumer. It’s about treating your customers right. It’s about adding more value to content.
Despite his flawed diatribe, Degen concedes and ends up doing what “copyright fighters” like yourself, Ingram and TechDirt have been saying for years: change your business model. Unfortunately, I don’t think that Degen sees it that way.
He may not believe that’s what he’s doing…
Remember what copyright is for
The problem is governments, companies and individuals forget about what copyright is all about. In its most basic form, its simply about maximizing innovation.
If the copyright term is too short, no innovation will take place. A company would not be able to achieve a good enough return on the money invested in performing the research.
On the other hand, if the copyright term is too long, innovation will take place, but it will be significantly under-utilized. Only a single company, the company that performed the research, will get any benefit.
So there needs to be a balance, and government is who has been tasked with finding this balance.
Finding the Balance
Chris I think your right on the money when you say that copyright is a balancing act. The company I’m interning for, iCopyright, believes the same thing. It isn’t acceptable to let someone else’s content be whisked away and profited off by someone else; however also isn’t right for one’s work to stop innovation. iCopyright just came out with its beta version of ©reators which seeks to strike a balance between the creator’s rights, user’s rights, and the greater good.
The ©reators beta site is [ link ]’ target=’_blank’>link ].
Kind Regards,
Tyson O’Donnell
Product Marketing Manager
206-484-8561
Tyson@icopyright.com
[ link ]’ target=’_blank’>link ]