Copyright

The topic we discussed in class was about the debate over copyright. Those that argue against having a copyright say that the copyright infringes on peoples freedom of speech. It was suggested in class that the copyright was originally initiated in the United States to promote the creative processes and encourage inventions. That originally the copyright was only good for a very short period of time- just 14 years, and then it was public domain. But over the years, the time for which the copyright was viable has been extended.

It seems to me that the copyright should extend for a person’s life time, if not longer. That anyone other than the original creator of an idea can profit on the ideas seems rather wrong. Or at least if another person works on the idea and adapts it, that they give the credit where it is due and don’t act as though all of the concepts were their own. For some things, where a corporation owns an idea the rules should be a little different. I think Disney should have the right to have an everlasting copyright on the characters it develops. I would be quite disturbed if the rights to the characters were given up and someone adapted them to serve a different purpose in a different image. For example, if Mickey Mouse was portrayed as an alcoholic or a suicide bomber I think it would scare me for life. It would also have a negative effect on a still viable company. Parents would not want to bring their families to Disney if they saw it in such a negative portrayal. If such a situation were to occur, it could also have very negative on the local economy- Orlando is very much a tourist economy.

It was also mentioned that the precedent, for hundreds of years was that there was no copyright. That the ancient myths and stories did not operate on the premise of some owning them. While there are writings and myths that are public domain, like Cinderella or Snow White, for examples, I think that they should be considered very differently than contemporary works. Many of the ancient tales originated before the common people were literate, so they could only be passed down by oral history and no one knows from whom the tales originated or who added what to the stories. But there are also ancient sources that do give credit to the one who created them, like the ancient Greek playwrights. These creators should also be considered on a different standard because they had a different audience. The audience already knew the plot line and the goal of the playwright was to portray it in a different manner. The difference is that these creators were not trying to make money, but create an art form.