Copyright

People and companies are always thinking of ways to keep material under copyright after its long period of protectiveness is done. An example of this, which is used in the book Practices of Looking, is the book Gone with the Wind. The author’s estate wanted to keep the book protected, so the estate contracted out an author to write a sequel. The sequel would then be copyrighted by the estate because it was written under contract. The original book would then be protected because the sequel used the same characters and ideas of the same characters that the first book used.

As time goes on more and more people, estates and companies will try to creatively keep their copyright protection. What I don’t like is that the law is set up a certain way, but people always seem to try to go around it, and they get away with it. And the law doesn’t do a whole lot about it. To a point it is unfair this way to other copyright holders, and is hurting them. If the law isn’t being followed or totally enforced, then why have it? I think there should be a time limit on copyright that is a long limited time to make sure there is no monopoly, as it is now. However, I think the law needs to be enforced more, or it needs to be reviewed again to make sure that it is fair.