...Huh. What if the primary requirement to keep copyright was to use them? I.E. In order to keep your copyright for a series, you had to keep making games for that series, or it became public domain? Not sure this is a good idea, but it's an interesting one. :/
@Rock Oh, this doesn't even approach being a solution for the patent mess. :/
@Angle I think best case scenario, companies eventually release their shit and get their heads out of their asses.
Worst case scenario, creative industries now have an arbitrary labor sink dedicated to the contemporary equivalent of direct-to-video sequels ala Land Before Time number umpteen-trillion.
@KawaSeadrake Yeah that's what I was worried about. And of course, what counts? Does a five dollar minigame count, or is that not sufficient? :/
@Angle That's the real question. And realistically I could see lobbyists in that scenario trying to push for the bare minimum. Hello shitty-ass mobile freemium moneymills! Well shit, hello slot machines here and pachinko machines over in Japan ala Komani. XP
It's a compromise that doesn't appeal to either the anti-copyright side (it doesn't actually abolish copyright, only ameliorates it slightly) nor the pro-copyright side (hard to apply for many types of works).
@Angle this is how trademarks work!
@Angle Not the best idea - most folx have one work of art that breaks through (like my book). Even if I produced more books in the series, there's no guarantee anyone would buy it and any shop would promote it.
@Aradia Mmm, yeah it wouldn't work very well for indie artists. :/
@Angle How about we get a small cut of royalties the first year of a work's release and then universal basic income for the rest of our lives to fund our further work?
@Aradia Haha yeah, that does sound pretty good. XD
@Angle
Just get rid of Intellectual property and artificial scarcity
@jonkroe Eh, I do think there are some places for it? But yeah, overall the current system is pretty shitty. :/
@hypolite rewarding people for putting their time and energy into it, and giving creators some measure of control over their work. :/
@hypolite Eh, theres a difference between worrying about them publishing knock offs of your creation and them publishing the exact same thing. Or copying it wholesale, in the case of a book. :/
Of course this would fit more nicely with UBI, but so far intellectual rights have been doing more harm than good (patent trolls, patent wars, business secrecy). The entire computing industry currently relies on free software already, I feel like this isn't that much of a stretch.
trademark works like this exactly, though.
@Angle And for books you have to keep them in print.
@Angle
qv 'abandonware'
@Angle Seems like it serves the intent of copyright, i.e. to encourage the production of new works. OTOH, it would tend to encourage the continuation of series well past their sell-by date (*cough*Wheel of Time*cough*). OTGH, the current system does that too.
@Angle So basically trademark law, but applied to copyright? Interesting.