Friday, May 04, 2007
Melancholy Elephants
As a student of the literature, culture and language of Japan, I humbly request that any readers of this blog who are citizens of Japan sign the Aozora petition, which seeks to block the proposed extension of the term of copyright protection from 50 to 70 years.
Personally, I'd like to read some more contemporary works in my lifetime, and their availability in digital form makes it feasible for me to use automated translation programs to aid in my studies. Keeping contemporary works from the mid-1950s onwards in paper-only form raises the barrier to comprehension by requiring hands-on, line-by-line translation at a higher level than I currently possess. The availability of a modern corpus of Japanese literature in digital form would do more to promote the Japanese language abroad than any other initiative I can imagine.
Furthermore, retaining the upper limit of a 50-year copyright in Japan may also spur creativity and innovation by Japanese artists that could demonstrate to U.S. policymakers the benefit of moving away from the ill-considered concept of perpetual copyright.
As a U.S. citizen, I will do my part to support candidates and officeholders who recognize the value of allowing cultural artifacts to enter the public domain for free, unfettered use.
And for a story about what may happen if we take copyright to the extreme, read Melancholy Elephants (1983) by Spider Robinson, freely available at the author's web site.
Personally, I'd like to read some more contemporary works in my lifetime, and their availability in digital form makes it feasible for me to use automated translation programs to aid in my studies. Keeping contemporary works from the mid-1950s onwards in paper-only form raises the barrier to comprehension by requiring hands-on, line-by-line translation at a higher level than I currently possess. The availability of a modern corpus of Japanese literature in digital form would do more to promote the Japanese language abroad than any other initiative I can imagine.
Furthermore, retaining the upper limit of a 50-year copyright in Japan may also spur creativity and innovation by Japanese artists that could demonstrate to U.S. policymakers the benefit of moving away from the ill-considered concept of perpetual copyright.
As a U.S. citizen, I will do my part to support candidates and officeholders who recognize the value of allowing cultural artifacts to enter the public domain for free, unfettered use.
And for a story about what may happen if we take copyright to the extreme, read Melancholy Elephants (1983) by Spider Robinson, freely available at the author's web site.
Labels: Japan, literature, politics
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