17 September 2013 - copyright term 2

For individual authors, copyright is life plus 70 years. Your grocery list has no value after you die, so let’s fix that too: Copyright ends with life. To encourage death row memoirs, we can allow 10 years after creation if that’s longer. With no escalating renewal fees, publishers will be tempted to allow creators to retain copyright, which is a win from every angle: Either it will correct the balance of power between creators and publishers, or else publishers will invest in immortality research.