this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2026
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Software that is not actively maintained for a certain time should become public property. The same goes for books or music that go out of print for so long. "you want to sell me your original product? That's cool. You don't wanna do that anymore? Alright, but no need to bury it in obscurity."
Tbf, it does. The problem is that it takes >100 years
Yeah, how about we shorten that to a cumulative 10 years out of support / maintenance / print or after the death of the author / artist, whatever earlier. For software, a five years out of support threshold would honestly be preferable but I'll be generous.
US copyright used to be an automatic 17 years, with the option to file for an extension for an additional 17, for a max of 34. We should never haved moved away from that.