Copyright duration
From Pirate Party UK Wiki
| Pirate Party UK Policy | |
| Copyright duration | |
| Shortening to 5 years with the option to renew for a further 5 years. Closed-source software may not have its copyright renewed in order to support open-source software. | |
| Policy area | Copyright |
| First adopted | September 2009 |
| Last changed | March 2010 |
The duration of copyright is the period of time from which copyright becomes active to when it expires.
Contents |
Current policy
The Pirate Party UK has a policy of shortening the duration of copyright to 5 years with the option to renew for a further 5 years. Closed-source software may not have its copyright renewed in order to support open-source software.
Debate summary
| This section documents internal party debates that have taken place in the policy forums and do not amount to party policy. |
Several candidates have emerged for copyright duration.
Five years with no extension
This is suggested by Rick Falkvinge[1] and is current Swedish Pirate Party policy.[2] Most works make the most if not all of their revenue within five years,[3] so in most cases more than five years may be excessive. Also, this option may lead to strong incentive to create new or "up-to-date" material.[citation needed]
On the other hand, it may be seen as too extreme and therefore "hard to sell",[citation needed] and also too short for realistic financial reward, depending on the medium.[citation needed]
Five years with optional five year extension
Most works make the most if not all of their revenue within five years,[3] so in most cases more than five years may be excessive. In a few cases, popular works will remain popular for longer than five years in which case, a five year extension is reasonable.[citation needed]
On the other hand, while this was voted on democratically, the figures appeared to have been chosen arbitrarily,[citation needed] and too short a copyright would dissuade creators from supporting our cause as they would benefit less from their works.[citation needed] Even 10 years may be too short for realistic financial reward, depending on the medium.[citation needed]
Ten years with optional five year extension
Cultural trends "tend to last around 10 years", so this option would give artists a reasonable amount of time to exploit their copyright.[4]
Shortened standard length with optional paid extensions
This option involves granting a standard copyright duration of five or ten years, and then allowing the copyright owner to extend their copyright indefinitely provided that they undertake paid registration.[citation needed] It is suggested that the fees occur periodically every one or five years, the amount determined by income, the duration of the copyright so far, etc.[citation needed]
This method is less radical than a set limit on copyright,[5] as it would allow variable durations provided that creators "pay for the privilege" of copyright.[6] As a result, unprofitable works would not have their copyright extended longer than necessary and it would also encourage creators to put their work in the public domain more quickly and more often.[5] Furthermore, it would result in greater tax revenue for government[7] and is in line with the established government policies of indirect taxation and liberty.[5]
On the other hand, "creative accounting" may be employed,[8] and some works may be kept in copyright longer than necessary,[9] depending on the fee scheme used.
Fourteen years with no extension
This was suggested in a Cambridge University PhD research paper.[10][11] (In actual fact, the paper suggests fifteen years as the optimal duration of copyright, but fourteen years was discussed.)[12] Fourteen years was the original duration of copyright, and so may be more defensible than another duration.[13] However, the duration suggested in the paper is an "initial estimate" that has a "considerable error range".[14]
Different durations for different media
Some media, notably books, can sometimes continue selling for much longer periods than others.[citation needed] To account for this, different media would be subject to different durations as described above.
References
| Forum topic | Last summarised |
|---|---|
| 5+5 year copyright terms questioned | July 16th 2010 |
| Optimal copyright length | July 16th 2010 |
| What ar (sic) the reasons behind the proposed copyright length? | July 16th 2010 |
| Why I think a 10 year copyright term is too short | July 16th 2010 |
- ↑ Post "Re: Optimal copyright length" by Jez9999
- ↑ English language section of the Piratpartiet website
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Post "Re: 5+5 year copyright terms questioned" by Jez9999
- ↑ Post "Re: 5+5 year copyright terms questioned" by Cc
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Post "Re: 5+5 year copyright terms questioned" by Samgower
- ↑ Post "Re: 5+5 year copyright terms questioned" by Samgower
- ↑ Post "Re: 5+5 year copyright terms questioned" by Cc
- ↑ Post "Re: 5+5 year copyright terms questioned" by PeterBrett
- ↑ Post "Re: 5+5 year copyright terms questioned" by Cc
- ↑ Post "Optimal copyright length" by PeterBrett
- ↑ Forever minus a day? Some theory and empirics of optimal copyright by Rufus Pollock
- ↑ Post "Re: Optimal copyright length" by Duke
- ↑ Post "Re: Optimal copyright length" by edmundrw
- ↑ Post "Re: Optimal copyright length" by martinbudden
Member votes
September 2009
This vote was held in the forums, receiving a total of 231 votes from members of Pirate Party UK. The median choice was the winner, i.e. the term for which at least 50% voted for that term or shorter.
| Option | Votes | Percent | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 years, that's it | 43 | 19% | 81% voted longer |
| 7 years, that's it | 11 | 5% | 77% voted longer |
| 5 years, optional 5 year extension | 79 | 34% | 58% voted this or shorter |
| 10 years, that's it | 14 | 6% | 64% voted this or shorter |
| 7 years, optional 7 year extension | 21 | 9% | 73% voted this or shorter |
| 14 years, that's it | 7 | 3% | 76% voted this or shorter |
| 10 years, optional 10 year extension | 21 | 9% | 85% voted this or shorter |
| 20 years, that's it | 9 | 4% | 89% voted this or shorter |
| 14 years, optional 14 year extension | 13 | 6% | 94% voted this or shorter |
| 28 years, that's it | 13 | 6% | 100% of options reached |
Additional polls were also held to ask whether to accept the result of this poll, to instead choose abolition, to choose a longer period than 28 years, or on a different basis altogether.
March 2010
As part of the manifesto ratification, this vote ran from March 6th to March 16th, in which 160 of approximately 650 members participated. The question asked was:
- We want all copyright durations to be reduced to a fairer length
- Copyright to be reduced to 5 years for all materials with an optional 5-year extension at the creator's discretion.
- Copyright duration to be reduced to 5 years for software released without source code.
- Copyright duration to be reduced to 10 years for software released with source code.
The options and results were:
| Option | Votes | Percent of vote |
|---|---|---|
| As above | 90 | 47% |
| Fixed 10 year term | 49 | 26% |
| Fixed 10 year term except for software where source isn't supplied where copyright will be 5 years | 51 | 27% |
The winner was the option with the largest proportion of votes.