Re: copyright after death

[BrennerNY@xxxxxxxx]

In a message dated 8/16/02 9:22:54 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
nbauman@xxxxxxxx writes:
≪ Sometimes the author is dead, and has no heirs, and would have been happy
 to know that his work would have been printed after his death, rather than
 be forgotten.
 Why make the presumption that the untraceable author wouldn't want it
 reprinted? Why not make the presumption that the author would want it
 reprinted?  ≫

  It's amazing how consistently the wishes of dead people happen to
coincide with our own.
  Maybe the author would have wanted to make extensive revisions before
reissuing it. Maybe he was an ornery recluse who just didn't want to be
published anymore. Who knows?
  But why make presumptions at all? Why not act on the basis of
incontestable reality -- i.e., that the wishes of the author are unknown and
unknowable, but the law is clear?
  Lynn