Internet Archive being sued

[Hygro]

Ah yes, authors would no doubt quake in fear at the possibility that stingy readers may assassinate them so as to obtain free access to their works.

Yes because stingy readers trying to get the IP on Internet Archive is clearly the best example of this threat.

 

[Samson]

If I come up with something and express it as...

• Maths or science it gets no protection
• A useful product I could patent it, but I would need to be rich to do that and it lasts 20 years
• A bit of code, and that gets copyright automatically and lasts until long after I die

I do not know what the right answer is, but that makes no sense to me. I know there is a different thing being protected, but still I cannot see the logic.

 

[stfoskey12]

If I come up with something and express it as...

• Maths or science it gets no protection
• A useful product I could patent it, but I would need to be rich to do that and it lasts 20 years
• A bit of code, and that gets copyright automatically and lasts until long after I die

I do not know what the right answer is, but that makes no sense to me. I know there is a different thing being protected, but still I cannot see the logic.

I could see life+30 years for copyright so creators and their children can collect royalties, and maybe 50 years for works for hire, but any longer makes no sense to me.
Things have started coming into the public domain again in the US, but it's still only things published before 1929, which is forever ago at this point.