I have a hard time understanding what "general problem" meant. It could mean "the existence of copyright", but the text is structured in contrast with patents, and ams6110 seems to say that the existence of patent protection is not the fundamental flaw but rather the threshold criteria for notability. So "general problem" doesn't seem to mean the bare existence of those monopolies but something more specific.
I didn't ask for qualifications because the implication is that "a period of protection" it simple. I focused mostly on that. The US Constitution says that copyright is for a limited time. Some people think that the current time is too short and want it to be "forever less one day". This is not allowed, so the current method is to keep extending copyrights, giving an effective infinite copyright period in the US.
A common view is that Disney wants to keep Mickey Mouse from entering the public domain. This is why the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act is sometimes pejoratively called the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.
So does "a period of protection" mean that the protection can be extended retrospectively? If so, is it okay for extensions for be applied indefinitely, to get an effectively infinite period of protection?
I agree with Karunamon in that even this 'simple' aspect is "causing more harm than good, and that they should be severely curtailed, if not outright abolished." (I'm for the 'severely curtailed' part.) Resolving that in the way that I think it should be is definitely not simple.
I didn't ask for qualifications because the implication is that "a period of protection" it simple. I focused mostly on that. The US Constitution says that copyright is for a limited time. Some people think that the current time is too short and want it to be "forever less one day". This is not allowed, so the current method is to keep extending copyrights, giving an effective infinite copyright period in the US.
A common view is that Disney wants to keep Mickey Mouse from entering the public domain. This is why the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act is sometimes pejoratively called the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.
So does "a period of protection" mean that the protection can be extended retrospectively? If so, is it okay for extensions for be applied indefinitely, to get an effectively infinite period of protection?
I agree with Karunamon in that even this 'simple' aspect is "causing more harm than good, and that they should be severely curtailed, if not outright abolished." (I'm for the 'severely curtailed' part.) Resolving that in the way that I think it should be is definitely not simple.