Adjusted for inflation, that's cheaper than $5 in 1976
I'm sure there's a witty comment to be made here about this preceding WOTC's announcement of limited-edition reprints of 1E AD&D core books, but I'm too busy jumping with excitement that MA 1E is back in print :)
Unless Charles Dickens has an ongoing "estate", I seriously doubt you are going to see a lot of public domain works get new copyright protection. This may protect a lot of works about to go into the public domain area, however. And that I regard as a good thing.
Can you imagine the court battles over properties already in public domain but now multiple parties would want the copyright? It would be like the War of the Roses all over again!
I regard that as an extension of a very bad thing.
The purpose of copyright - the reason it was introduced in the first place - was to increase the number of works in the public domain, by granting the producers of those works a short, temporary monopoly on their distribution. Artists and writers and playwrights and so forth now had strong financial incentive to produce works, and these became part of the public commons after this period of monopoly expired. Everybody wins.
Since then, copyright ownership shifted to corporations, and copyright terms have lengthened without bound. This is completely contrary to the original rationale for creating the system in the first place.
The patent system is similarly abused (supposed to foster disclosure of what were once trade secrets, now mostly used as an offensive weapon). At least its term limits aren't quite as insane.
In the area of gaming, Star Trek Online (www.startrekonline.com) has gone Free to Play. Of course there are limitations; monthly subscribers and lifetime members get some things that free players have to pay actual money for (Buying Cryptic Points, and spending those points in the online and ingame C-Store). Things that cost money that are worthy of noting
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https://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/metamorphosis-alpha/1647436
Adjusted for inflation, that's cheaper than $5 in 1976
I'm sure there's a witty comment to be made here about this preceding WOTC's announcement of limited-edition reprints of 1E AD&D core books, but I'm too busy jumping with excitement that MA 1E is back in print :)
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The purpose of copyright - the reason it was introduced in the first place - was to increase the number of works in the public domain, by granting the producers of those works a short, temporary monopoly on their distribution. Artists and writers and playwrights and so forth now had strong financial incentive to produce works, and these became part of the public commons after this period of monopoly expired. Everybody wins.
Since then, copyright ownership shifted to corporations, and copyright terms have lengthened without bound. This is completely contrary to the original rationale for creating the system in the first place.
The patent system is similarly abused (supposed to foster disclosure of what were once trade secrets, now mostly used as an offensive weapon). At least its term limits aren't quite as insane.
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