Michael Crichton Quotes
An intellectual property worker will take copyright protection on everything he can get.
Michael Crichton, Techno Novelist, Speech, National Press Club, November 28, 2006
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
In early America, the United States did NOT participate in the European International Copyright convention. The American purpose of copyright was not to protect authors and intellectual property owners, but to promote knowledge and culture. The original purpose was to limit the time during with an author could control his/her creative work so that the society as a whole can get maximum benefit. With the rise of large corporate intellectual property owners with strong lobbyists, they have been able to change the copyright law to greatly enlarge their time and methods of control. The Pirate Party wants to go back to the original intention of the Founding Fathers.
Getting agreement of different nations on copyright protection has always been a problem.
In America it used to be 26 years with a renewal for an additional 26 years. However, Mickey Mouse was about to go into the Public Domain, and Walt Disney and other large copyright holders lobbied to extend the copyright term to the life of the author plus 100 years. See {624751}.
Note that the only reason given in the constitution for protecting intellectual property was to promote the progress of science and useful arts. Inventors, would keep secret their inventions and techniques of manufacture and use in order to protect their economic interests. No one else would be able to benefit by understanding the invention and taking it further and increasing knowledge and understanding. So the Founding Fathers told Congress to establish a system where inventors would get a guarantee of a reasonable time to profit exclusively from the invention in exchange for making the invention public. The plans, methods and drawings had to be made public and until the 20th century a model of an invention had to be supplied to the Patent Office. Anyone could get an inexpensive copy of any patent and come and study the models. Today, most people believe that the reason for a patent system is to protect the intellectual property of the inventor, but that was not a purpose or even a serious consideration. The reason however was educational and to demystify technology and produce more science and technology which it did.
John Michael Crichton was an American author and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works are usually within the science fiction, techno-thriller, and medical fiction genres, and heavily feature technology. His novels often explore technology and failures of human interaction with it, especially resulting in catastrophes with biotechnology. Many of his novels have medical or scientific underpinnings, reflecting his medical training and scientific background.
