wtansillNcc1701
join:2000-10-10
Falls Church, VA
1 edit | Here's a wishlist for ya... I have two ideas on this, the first of which is original to me, the second of of which I read somewhere (might even have been here - I can't recall).
•The US Congress has repeatedly extended copyright terms at the request of the entertainment industry. Well and good -- that is their contitutional function. However, every such extension is, by definition, a diminution of the public domain. As such, it is a "taking", and the public should be compensated as provided by the 5th Amendment. And who better to provide such compensation than the very industry who has so far benefitted from such takings?
•The various entertainment industries consider their IP to be real property -- hence the terms "piracy" or "theft" for what is in fact various acts of copyright infringment. Fine. Let's extend the metaphor to its logical conclusion. Real property is subject to various taxes. Let the entertainment industry have any copyright extensions it calls for. And lets tax every last piece of "intellectual property" they own. I'm guessing that a very large chunk of previously closely-held IP would very quickly fall into the public domain were we to demand such a tax.
As Porky Pig famously said "Ththththata's all folks!"
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"In every generation, there are those who want to rule well - but they mean to rule. They promise to be good masters - but they mean to be master."
--Daniel Webster
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