Mark Twain Vs. Copyright: Who does it really favor?

Sep 28 2007

Who does copyright protect? Obviously, it’s designed to protect the author from people stealing his/her work and selling it as their own. I don’t think anyone would really argue that that’s a bad thing. Copyright, however, also protects the interests of the publishers. It prevents a competing publisher from printing a bestselling book from a different publisher, and then undercutting the price.

However, over the long term, who does copyright really protect, and who does it favor? Classic American author Mark Twain had a few choice ideas about this topic, as he worried greatly about his kids not making any money from his infamous works:

What bothered him about copyright was the fact that it would eventually expire, leaving his heirs without a way to make an easy buck. Twain didn’t want perpetual copyright, only something that would cover his children’s lives. He noted on more than one occasion that the grandkids should fend for themselves, but for Twain and his daughters, he sought to combat "the pirates."

Those "pirates" turn out to be publishers. The problem Twain had was that back then, copyright protection was only extended for 42 years, after which, the work went into the public domain. And once the work goes into the public domain, Twain argues, the publishers start circling like vultures:

Maybe this wouldn’t have bothered Twain much were it not for the fact that he was convinced that public domain works were nothing more than free source materials for publishers to pick up, print, and make money on (without paying an author). Twain feared that publishers would continue to print his works without paying him, and thus they’d continue to rake in the dough while his heirs got none. And, as Twain once noted, while authors die, "publishers" don’t.

When you really think about it, Twain makes a good point. Just think about all those publishers who continually churn new editions of classic works. The only difference between many is the footnotes, and some publishers don’t even bother with those. Granted, these books aren’t huge moneymakers for the publishing industry, but they’re a steady source of income for them.

So what was Mark Twain’s solution? He proposed a fairly genius idea that I’m sure would have the publishing industry growling in anger if an author really did this:

Twain concocted a scheme whereby he would augment his existing copyrighted works on the eve of their entry into the public domain in order to create a new, copyrighted work. The original work would pass into the public domain, but Twain reasoned that the newer, augmented works would outsell public domain materials if they offered something extra. In short, he speculated about trying to create value from his older works that would be copyrightable.

In theory, it’s a great idea! But to make it practical, one would have to do some careful planning to make an "updated" work have more value than the original. Also, it brings up the question if the author works with the same publisher for the new work, finds a different one or self-publishes and forgoes traditional publishing altogether.

I don’t think Twain himself could have foreseen the advent of the internet and all the changes it brought to the publishing world. He’d probably be delighted to find that more and more authors are taking the plunge into self-publishing, thus controlling every aspect of their work – not just simply writing it and sending it off to some corporation for printing and distribution.

Nevertheless Twain shows that authors must be vigilant in protecting themselves against less-then-ethical companies and people looking to make an easy buck. As he points out, even something as innocent, and good, as copyright protection could end up benefiting the wrong people over time.

Check out this entire article at:
Mark Twain’s plans to compete with copyright "pirates"