That’s when it hit me: She’d said earlier that I got one free book rental. Weren’t most book rentals at this library free? Of course not, she said, handing me a rate card. One glance told me I’d better choose that free book wisely because I surely couldn’t afford many more.
But why was it so expensive to borrow a book? “Do you want to deprive the authors of all incentive to write?” she asked rhetorically. “They have to be fairly compensated for their work.”
I was tempted to ask why writers had been writing for so long in spite of free libraries, but then I had an idea. OK, I wouldn’t want to shortchange any living authors of their livelihood, but surely works in the public domain would still be free. Couldn’t I check out a volume of Shakespeare gratis, for example? Presumably he’s already had his just rewards.
“Oh, I’m afraid Shakespeare is particularly expensive,” she answered, explaining that after the Supreme Court ruled that copyright could be extended indefinitely into the future, Congress couldn’t see any reason why it couldn’t be extended indefinitely into the past as well. “Naturally, those who’ve contributed the most to keeping his works alive have the strongest claim on current royalties.”
Think of all the movie studios, distributors, producers, directors, and actors who would have to share my paltry rental fees, she added. Why, for Romeo and Juliet alone, the library would have to pay royalties to everyone involved in the latest film version all the way back to West Side Story. “And, after all, where would Shakespeare be without Leonardo DiCaprio?” she quipped.
It's hard to argue with that, so I hurriedly chose one of my wife’s favorite mystery authors as my free book and started to leave. On the way out, I noticed a group of preschoolers gathering in the children's section. The sign announcing a reading session of Brothers Grimm fairy tales included “All rights reserved” by the Disney Corp., of course, and “Microsoft Passport Account” required for admission.
In closing, I should clearly point out that the e-mail version of this column will be distributed on April 1. But who are the bigger fools -- those who think my little tale could be true or those who think it could never happen?
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