[geoschmo]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Secondly, what about an author who writes a book and then wants to use the same characters in a later book? Does the copyright on those characters run from the Last book in the series or the first? Can any joe blow go off and start writing Honor Harrington books once the term expires on the original book, even thogh the author is still producing novels with her in it?

Actually, the more I think about this, the less I think it's a problem. So someone else writes a book with your character in it. That can be a good thing for you actually because it can generate interest in your original works which you can still be distributing.

Also, you could allow corporations to "buy out" an authors copyright so that they could distibute the product freely themselves, but doing so should not transfer the copyright to them. It should transfer the work into the public domain early, so that in effect anyone would be free to market and distribute it. This could make sense as a business model considering the limited lifespan of most of these types of things. The author could get a big check at once instead of waiting for royalties over the term of the copyright and no hassles with inforcing the copyright. The corporation gets a head start on production and distribution over any competitiors, and should have the advantage in the market as theirs would be the "official Version". But they would still have to produce a quality product as they would be subject to market competition.

Geoschmo

[ July 16, 2003, 16:20: Message edited by: geoschmo ]