Comments on: Your Archives: The Last Word

By: Brett

Brett — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:46:40 +0000

I’m looking forward to the day when everything will be under copyright forever. And let’s do away with fair use altogether, while we’re at it. That will be far simpler for everyone to understand, and will provide maximum protection for content creators and their descendants, for all time. We can do this, people!

By: Gavin Robinson

Gavin Robinson — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:58:25 +0000

Copyright law is just insane. I’ve got a PhD and I still don’t understand it! Still, 2039 is something to look forward to. If I’m still alive then…

By: Brett

Brett — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:52:47 +0000

On the 2039 thing, some googling reveals this:

Q. How long does Crown copyright last?

A.This depends on whether the work has been published.

Crown copyright work which has been published will have copyright protection for 50 years from the end of the year in which the work was published.

Unpublished works have a period of protection of 125 years from the end of the year in which the work was made or until 31 December 2039 (i.e. 50 years from the year in which the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 came into force).

Copyright in a work which has been assigned to the Crown lasts 70 years after the death of the person who created it.

Page 13 of this PDF has a flowchart which makes it clear that the Crown copyright on unpublished literary works lasts 125 years or until the end of 2039, whichever is longer!

By: Ben Brumfield

Ben Brumfield — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:51:25 +0000

Thanks for posting this correspondence. I’m the early stages of a similar correspondence with IATH regarding the rights to MTD, and it’s very helpful to track how yours has gone.

Regarding the irony of staking out copyright in order to share more freely, I discovered the opposite in regards to my blog and project. A patent attorney friend of mine found out that I was blogging about the design and algorithmic elements of my software. Surprised, he asked me if I intended to patent any of the system. Upon my negative response, he told me that publishing details of the product could actually protect it from challenges by future patent-filers: the things I’m disclosing could establish prior art.

So while copyrighting your material allows you to share it, sharing mine allows me to protect it!