Copyright: A lifetime and 70 years

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Welcome back! For my blog this week, I was asked to write about the length that a copyright lasts, and explain my position on the issue. For those of you who aren’t completely sure what a copyright is, it can be defined as the exclusive legal right given to the creator of an original work to control its distribution for a length of time, after which the work becomes part of the public domain. Currently, a copyright lasts a lifetime plus 70 years before it is released to the public domain.

After discussing the length of a copyright in class and watching a video on it, I found myself agreeing with the set length. I believe that if people come up with a unique idea or invention, they should take full credit for the item whenever it is used until it eventually is released into the public domain.

Although I am unsure why the lawmakers decided that a copyright should last 70 of all years after the death of the copyrighter, I believe that it is sufficient amount of time for the family or friends of the copyrighter to reap the benefits of the creation. It’s possible that the lawmakers wanted to ensure that if people died soon after their copyright was enacted, that family and friends still receive some of the profits.

If the copyright did not last an additional 70 years after the lifetime of the copyrighter, family and friends of the copywriter would not receive profit, and the copyrighter’s work would not be credited to him/her when it was used, rather it would go straight to the public domain.

However, I do feel that there should be exceptions to this rule, but I know that it unreasonable for the law to be changed for them.  I think it’s a bit ridiculous for a song such as “Happy Birthday” to be copyrighted. That is not to say that the creators should not receive credit for their work, but I feel that the song is used commonly enough to where it should be released to the public domain sooner than 70 years after the lifetime of the songwriters.

I strongly believe that people should receive credit for the work that they do, so I am happy with the current stance of the copyright law. Although I do feel like it could ideally be tweaked to offer some exceptions, I realize that that belief is based on personal opinion and will most likely not be changed. See you next week!