In Hot Property, his newest tome for armchair policy wonks, author Pat Choate argues that the "global theft of ideas is now so massive that it threatens innovation and creativity everywhere." Choate rails against dead-of-night copyright extensions passed by Congress to please the likes of Disney, but he offers an odd solution: unlimited extensions in exchange for a nominal fee. We asked the former Ross Perot running mate what he thinks will be left for the public domain if copyrights can last forever.
WIRED: Won't authors extend copyrights forever if the law lets them?
CHOATE: With much of the important work in literature and books, the opportunity to commercialize ends at a certain point. Once you pass that period, you have your ideas, and they still have value, but you want them out where they can be used. The majority of copyright holders would just simply let the copyright go after its commercial run.
A copyright is intended to give an author or artist an opportunity to be compensated, but isn't the point also to release the work to society while it still has value?
Ideally it is, and that was why it was put into the Constitution. They wanted knowledge to go into the public domain. But there's a certain greed factor. Having spent 30 years around Congress, it's my sense that the proposal I'm making is the best we can get right now.
You say the US Patent and Trademark Office employs the most talented patent experts in the world. How do you defend absurd business-model patents and patent flooding?
They're the best. They're not perfect. We're seeing the patent office try to adapt to a new world. Patent flooding is a problem, but I think that's pretty much the way the system has always operated, from Edison and Bell forward. And entrepreneurs have generally found a way, if they have something unique to get to market.
But entrepreneurs have never been faced with such a litigious establishment. Don't you think the record labels and film studios should adapt to a new reality?
I agree that we have seen very unimaginative responses from studios and producers. The pressure is on them to find a new way of generating revenue. That's the triumph of Steve Jobs with the iTunes Music Store. We need some more creative business thinking.
- Lucas Graves
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