Why Games Should Be In the Public Domain 360
Robotron23 writes "Rock, Paper, Shotgun writer John Walker shook a hornet's nest by suggesting old videogames should enter the public domain during GOG's Time Machine sale. George Broussard of Duke Nukem fame took to Twitter, saying the author should be fired. In response to these comments RPS commissioned an editorial arguing why games and other media should enter the public domain much more rapidly than at present. 'I would no more steal a car than I would tolerate a company telling me that they had the exclusive rights to the idea of cars themselves.' says Walker, paraphrasing a notorious anti-piracy ad (video). 'However, there are things I'm very happy to "steal," like knowledge, inspiration, or good ideas...It was until incredibly recently that amongst such things as knowledge, inspiration and good ideas were the likes of literature and music.'"
And A Rebuttal (Score:4, Informative)
And a rebuttal by Steve Gaynor [pastebin.com].
Re:Yeah, right ... (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, Mickey Mouse will potentially enter the public domain in (I think) 2018. Because the terrorists win if that happens, look for Disney to push for another copyright extension either right after midterm elections this year, or after the 2016 elections.
Hits the nail on the head (Score:3, Informative)
The other thing about copyright is that it's not the creative people who make money forever off of their own work, it's the corporations that manufacture the plastic discs who make the money forever off of the songwriters' work.