One of the supposed justifications for the intellectual monopoly called copyright is that it drives creativity and culture. In the last few weeks alone we have had multiple demonstrations of why the opposite is true: copyright destroys culture, and not by accident, but wilfully. For example, the MTVNews.com site, along with its sister site CMT.com, …
Your argument is that Disney expanding copyright protections proves that copyright benefits them.
But Disney isn’t expanding copyright protections in a way that benefits anybody but themselves. They’re abusing their power in the existing system, just as they would in any system.
If it helps, forget about the literal Disney corporation. There will always be some corporation that exists with deeper pockets than any independent creator, because copyright isn’t the only reason that corporations exist. It doesn’t have to be Disney who steals your work, republishes it, and buries the original. Any corporation with more money than scruples can do it.
And no one can steal your work when it’s not ownable in the first place.
At the same time, everyone can profit from your work and you can’t do anything about it. And big businesses, having more capital than you or I, would abuse that to their benefit like they do the current copyright system. But at least the current system gives small copyright owners some semblance of protection and an avenue to contest abuse. Not having copyright would give a creator no avenue to stop someone else abusing their hard work.
You publish a book. Disney publishes that book the next day, because they can afford to have people on payroll whose job it is to literally just scout out new books so that they can publish them themselves.
Me, a book enjoyer, is going to my local bookshop. I ask what’s new, and I’m told about Disney’s new book. I’m not told about your new book because after all it is the exact same book, and Disney has threatened the store to withdraw all business if they sell anybody’s books but theirs.
I buy Disney’s book. You get no money. You become poor and destitute.
How does a lack of copyright help you in this instance?
Why am I publishing a book? I release my creative works online for free, for anyone and everyone.
Human culture shouldn’t be paywalled off for the benefit of businesses.
Because you invested your time, effort and money to create this piece of art. Why on earth would anybody decide to create art if it was a guarantee that they’d die in a gutter?
In your anarchist utopia, maybe an artist can thrive. But we’d have to get all the way there first.
And in every step from where we are to where you want to get to, the artist is significantly worse off. You’re just letting perfect be the enemy of good.
I invest my time, effort, and money into the games and stories I make and release for free online.
Why do I do this? Because creating is fun, and seeing others play or read them is inspiring.
I appreciate that, and equally that there are really good artists who can not afford to create and survive on their work, without it. Surely there’s a reasonable balance to be had, and megacorporations can be made to respect that balance (in theory), while also paying livable wages. In practice, it would require honest courts, lawyers, and politicians, so there’s that.
because you can afford to because you already have a way to support yourself in society
also, not all creatives are idealists, so would need some form of incentive to put in the extra effort to release their work to the public