A great essay by Mr. Stallman.... thanks for the post, Dave!
The time limits suggested by Stallman sound very reasonable. 10 years of protected commercial distribution would be well enough for the publishers to make their money and stay in the business, and at the same time it would provide a rich public domain for the people to enjoy and for the artists to create new derivative works from. Shorter protection times would probably motivate the industry to introduce much more actively new material from a wider group of authors and artists, thereby doing just what the copyright system is supposed to do.
The protection should also apply only to commercial distribution, protecting legitimate publishers and distributors from industrial piracy; all non-commercial forms of distribution like libraries and p2p should be left outside the copyright bargain. This sort of new deal would please a great majority of people, and it would leave enough room for the businesses to flourish as well.
- tg
