On 28/03/2011 20:02, David Looser wrote:
wrote

And another thing - there's no way the estate should benefit from his
work, surely?! Proceeds should go to the state, such as it is.


Well of course under present law royalties do go to the estate - for 70
years after the authors death. Whilst, as you must by now have noticed :-),
I do support the idea of copyright, I find the idea that the income from
royalties should not just survive the authors death, but do so for so long,
to be utterly unacceptable. I was amazed and saddened that the most recent
change to copyright law *increased* the term from 50 years after the authors
death, to 70 years. Assuming the author lives to a normal old age that 70
years will probably see out their children, so it could well be the
grandchildren picking up the royalty cheques.


Yes, and as you may have noticed, I don't subscribe to this wealth
begets wealth type of thing :-)

Society is stratified enough thanks very much, and property ownership is
going to shape and divide the next generation more than any other
variable thanks to inheritance.

Rob