A Letter Not Sent to Wired

Regarding your story about Bill Gates referring to intellectual property reformers as communists, I think the discussion should focus first on the foundations and rationales for creating IP laws. Up until very recent history, it was economically risky to get text, music, or images in front of a large group of people. It was the job of business and government. Now, anyone can conceivably be heard for a lot less cost. Publishers, studios, and record labels still provide a service by filtering out the wheat from the chaff, but that, too, will soon be done better by the internet marketplace.

Since we often see additional benefit from the easing of other restrictions, like regulations and trade barriers, I think that there would be some sizable economic benefit to moving intellectual property rights into the public domain sooner. Look how much a company like Disney has profited from the public domain; Snow White, The Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and most of their other hits were stories they didn't have to pay a cent for. Ironically, they're leading the charge for extending copyright periods because they want to retain the sole right to Mickey Mouse and other characters.

I appreciate Creative Commons' approach, but I'd really like to see governmental action on this.