Mondrian Entered the Public Domain. The Estate Disagrees

(copyrightlately.com)

69 points | by Tomte 2 days ago

4 comments

  • theragra 1 hour ago
    As always, copyright is a supressor of creativity, not an enabler. Copyright terms should be 10-20 years max, or up to death of an author. Even current regime is ridiculous.
    • B1FF_PSUVM 1 hour ago
      It's rather incongruous that you register intellectual property for very little - and have states enforcing your rights for free - while a piece of land pays property taxes.
      • simonh 22 minutes ago
        Creators pay tax on their income.

        We all get legal protections for our property.

      • ivell 53 minutes ago
        IPR is a form of incentive for creators in service of betterment of the society (it also could be detrimental like Mein Kempf though). On the other hand real estate does not need such extra incentives. Need or greed is enough.
        • GuestFAUniverse 27 minutes ago
          The book title is "Mein K_a_mpf".

          It's related to the latin "c_a_mpus" / battle field -- like most European languages, there are close relationships to the neighbors. While there were shifts in sounds: in this case not.

  • bonzini 52 minutes ago
    I read "The duration of the U.S. protection for all other works… was for 70 years from the artist’s date of death" and thought wow, did Mondrian really live into the 1960s or so?

    Next paragraph: "Mondrian died in 1944. Any of his works subject to a life-plus-70 regime would have entered the public domain" 10 years ago. Who even thought of including that in a legal argument??

    • Someone 10 minutes ago
      based on your comment (the site is unresponsive, so I cannot check what exactly it says) I think the article is incorrect.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_St...:

      “For works published or registered before 1978, the maximum copyright duration is 95 years from the date of publication, if copyright was renewed during the 28th year following publication. Copyright renewal has been automatic since the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992.

      For works created before 1978, but not published or registered before 1978, the standard §302 copyright duration of 70 years from the author's death also applies. Prior to 1978, works had to be published or registered to receive copyright protection. Upon the effective date of the 1976 Copyright Act (which was January 1, 1978) this requirement was removed and these unpublished, unregistered works received protection. However, Congress intended to provide an incentive for these authors to publish their unpublished works. To provide that incentive, these works, if published before 2003, would not have their protection expire before 2048.”

  • jacquesm 31 minutes ago
    The Mondrian estate... don't get me started on that one.
  • comrade1234 53 minutes ago
    [flagged]