Andrew Lownie calls for limited licenses
12 Apr 2013

“We also all need to look at limited licences — I suggest ten year licences as with translation — to allow greater control of rights at a time of rapid technological change. It is wrong to sign away rights, many not even known, forever, now that books never go out of print. Naturally, publishers and agents will be reluctant to do so arguing that they should reap the benefits of what they have sown, but ten years should be sufficient to recoup the investment made.”

The full Publishing Perspectives piece can be found here.