Copyright is the intersection of my being a writer and a political nerd. It is a point where I will be the first to say “I am not a lawyer, I don’t even play one on TV.” I also will say, “This is something I care passionately about.”
Now, lots of caveats when I talk about my thoughts here: I am not a copyright expert. I’m an amateur. I am a writer, but there is a lot of creative stuff covered by copyright that I would probably screw up if I talked about it. I am not politician (thank God), so there are probably aspects of this I haven’t even been exposed to and will screw up.
So take everything I say with some salt.
However, I have for several years now been building an idea. I started pondering this with the fall of Napster back in the 2000’s. I had so many friends who thought downloading music was fine. I was the weird one for feeling like it was unethical or at least a bit icky. Then many of my friends began spinning up Plex servers for movies and tv shows. Again, I felt like the outsider for feeling like I needed to buy before I loaded.
Then I wanted something (I don’t remember what anime) which was not legally available. Google Translate didn’t exist yet, and I couldn’t (can’t) read enough Japanese to even try to hunt Japanese sites for the English dub. IF it was even available in Japan. It was an anime I remembered, but I could not find anything EXCEPT bootleg copies.
Oh, and let’s not forget the infamous “Disney vault” where they tuck away properties to jack up the price on purpose. You know, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs come out every ten years or so – better buy it now before it’s gone again!
It was so frustrating. I wanted to buy it legally. I wanted to do the “right thing” and support the artists – visual, vocal, writers – who created this art. And I couldn’t.
Same with books. There were about 5 years running where I asked for Dan Mannix’s Fox and the Hound for Christmas. It wasn’t available digitally. It was still under copyright. It was out of print. My mother eventually found a copy and it eventually released digitally. eventually.
My Idea to Change Copyright
Especially with digital options for books, movies, tv shows, and music – there is no reason for something to be “out of print.” No excuse for something to be locked up and entirely unavailable.
I don’t object (as much) to a paywall. Disney not selling physical copies and only making Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs available on Disney+? I’m not going to say, “I like it.” BUT. BUT. It’s available. I just have to be willing to pay for it. Different argument whether I want to.
So what if someone like Amazon is publishing my book and decides to stop selling it? What then? A clock starts. Music labels, publishers, etc. have 12 months to make the copyrighted work legally available. If it is not made available within those 12 months, the copyright reverts to the creative artist (writer, musician, etc.). The artist then has 12 months to make it legally available. At 24 months being unavailable on the public market, the creative work reverts to the public domain. Copyright is ended for that work.
That’s it. That’s my idea to help improve the current state of copyright.
Problems I haven’t solved
This isn’t a perfect fix. It only addresses works which have a historical distribution model (music, books, etc.). I don’t know how it would apply to movies which are such a collaborative creation. Who does that right revert to if the “distributor” stops making it available? An actor? The producer? The writer? Someone else?
I’m also not sure about “renting” versus “purchasing” models. Does a Disney+ subscription making art available make up for me not being allowed to purchase it? In a major city with decent internet, sure. What about those people with bad internet availability? (Did you know that millions of US citizens don’t even have regular running water?!?! Much less good internet!!!)
BUT – like, I can’t necessarily afford ridiculously expensive art. It’s still copyrighted and doesn’t have to be printed in cheaper format for distribution. Copyright can also cover architechture and like I don’t have a right to own a building. Maybe these need to be covered with different copyright laws or something.
I don’t know! (insert sounds of wailing and gnashing of teeth)
It’s a start. This is about as far as my knowledge can take the idea. I’m just saying it needs improvement from the current status of things.
Dream by Day 