COPYRIGHT

Although I was unfortunately absent from class the presentation on copyright, I was able to acquire some information about copyrights through the blogs of my diligent classmates.

I have always vaguely known about copyrights especially in the entertainment sector. But after glancing through a few of my classmates' blogs, I was astonished by how much I was unaware of.

I, like most of you guys, was surprised by the fact that the works of an individual is protected for the entire duration of his/her life plus 70 years! This seemed particularly excessive!
One justification proposed for this long copyright protection period was that it was established so the author's family can benefit from it long after his/her death. I think this is particularly unwarranted as they can gain from the individual's creative genius over the course of his lifetime. And 10 years after the passing of the author (in the event that the author dies very soon after his work is published) seems long enough for his relatives to reap the rewards of his creativity.