From: Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@hungry.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:22:12 +0000 (+0000)
Subject: Improve text.
X-Git-Url: https://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/commitdiff_plain/6d2083d5f29a905e10671c69f99e17812894f189

Improve text.
---

diff --git a/blog/draft/2012-copyright-taxing.txt b/blog/draft/2012-copyright-taxing.txt
index 292ea99790..b50fbf040f 100644
--- a/blog/draft/2012-copyright-taxing.txt
+++ b/blog/draft/2012-copyright-taxing.txt
@@ -1,20 +1,19 @@
-Title: Can we get the tax office to help us put copyrighted works in the public domain?
+Title: Why isn't the value of copyright taxed?
 Tags: english, freeculture, opphavsrett
 Date: 2012-11-17 09:00
 
-<p>While working on a Norwegian translation of the Free Culture by
-Lawrence Lessig, which talk about the problems with todays copyright
-law and how it stifles creativity, one thing occurred to me.  The idea
-is to get the tax office to help us make more works enter the public
-domain and help us make it easier to clear rights to use copyrighted
-works.</p>
-
-https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig
+<p>While working on a
+<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Norwegian
+translation of the Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig</a>, which talk
+about the problems with todays copyright law and how it stifles
+creativity, one thing occurred to me.  The idea is to get the tax
+office to help us make more works enter the public domain and help us
+make it easier to clear rights to use copyrighted works.</p>
 
 <p>The idea is partly based on the argument that copyrighted works are
-intellectual property, but the core requirement is that copyrighted
+"intellectual property", but the core requirement is that copyrighted
 work have value and the tax office like to collect their share from
-any value in a country.  Sharing it here to let others comment on it
+any value in a country.  Sharing it here to let others think about it
 and perhaps shoot it down.</p>
 
 <p>Most valuables are taxed by the government.  At least here in
@@ -39,12 +38,16 @@ with todays copyright law.</p>
 will have a small incentive to "disown" their copyright, and let the
 work enter the public domain or at least state (in the database) that
 they do not need to be consulted when clearing rights to use the work.
-This will make it even easier to clear rights, and also increase the
-amount of works that enter the public domain.</p>
-
-<p>The effect is that the tax office help us to get more work into the
-public domain and make it easier to get rights to use the works that
-have not yet entered the public domain.</p>
-
-<p>Why have this not happened yet?  I am sure the tax office would
-like to tax copyrighted work values if they thought of it.</p>
+I assume the copyright law would stay the same, allowing creators to
+pick a license of their choosing, and also allowing them to put their
+work directly in the public domain.  The existence of such database
+will make it even easier to clear rights, and taxing the owners listed
+in the database would increase the amount of works that enter the
+public domain.</p>
+
+<p>The effect is that the tax office help all of us to get more work
+into the public domain and make it easier to get rights to use the
+works that have not yet entered the public domain.</p>
+
+<p>Why have such taxing not happened yet?  I am sure the tax office
+would like to tax copyrighted work values if they thought of it.</p>