I have a colleague (not on social media) who likes to say that works don't *fall* into the public domain, they *ascend* into the public domain. I really love that.
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What many people fail to understand about copyright is that its primary purpose is to benefit the public, not to enrich authors or corporations. Supporting authors financially was intended as a means to an end, not the end itself.
It was created at a time when many authors had to rely on other work to make a living, as no one would pay them for something that could be freely copied. It was meant to serve as an incentive for creating more.
Government-granted monopolies (e.g. copyrights, patents) originated in a time when it was assumed that businesses could not succeed without some kind of special Government help. This ideology is called “mercantilism”, as distinct from “free-market capitalism”.
I'm not sure. I tend to think of it that everything is born in the public domain but held in an artificial stasis for a while. When that's released things fall back into their natural state.
It could be argued that the public domain is an ascension to an even higher degree of commodification, a state of final dissociation from an ethically entwined relational state.
Kant would probably love that framing! He believed in autonomy and the shared progress of humanity. To him, works "ascending" into the public domain could reflect their higher purpose: enriching everyone and advancing enlightenment. A beautiful moral elevation!
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(I kid, this is a good way of looking at things)
I do prefer to say "become".
Doesn’t imply up or down level, but rather a held state vs free
Ascendence is achieving their highest calling
Please start the new year with the help of my daughter 🥺
And repost my pinned post 🙏🏾🙏🏾