# Yoko extends copyright on Imagine lyrics by 37+ years **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 19, 2017, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yoko-extends-copyright-on-imagine-lyrics-by-37-years/789408 "2017-06-19T23:58:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yoko-extends-copyright-on-imagine-lyrics-by-37-years/789408/21 "2017-06-21T17:14:23Z")
84 years old and she extends the copyright for 50 years. Causing headaches for anybody that wants to perform this sentimental relic of the anti war movement. I think that’s why she got songwriting credit. Its yet another copyright strategy. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yoko-extends-copyright-on-imagine-lyrics-by-37-years/789408/22 "2017-06-21T18:09:04Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I think that’s why she got songwriting credit. Its yet another copyright strategy. Except it won’t extend the copyright at all > [@](#): > > While Israelite initially said that adding Ono to the credits would extend the period of time before the song enters the public domain, he later corrected himself and noted that because the song was published in 1971, the life of its copyright lasts 95 years after publication — not the current law, instituted in 1978, which extends the copyright 70 years after the death of the last author. Adding Ono as a writer will not extend the life of its copyright. > **[Yoko Ono to Receive Songwriting Credit on John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’](https://variety.com/2017/biz/news/yoko-ono-to-receive-songwriting-credit-on-john-lennon-imagine-1202466645/)** > > Yoko Ono will receive a co-writing credit for John Lennon's "Imagine," it was announced at the NMPA annual meeting on Wednesday. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yoko-extends-copyright-on-imagine-lyrics-by-37-years/789408/23 "2017-06-21T19:47:02Z")
Ok, ignorance fought. 😃 Geez that’s a long time. Imho 50 years is long enough to collect from old work. Any heirs can earn their own $$$$. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yoko-extends-copyright-on-imagine-lyrics-by-37-years/789408/24 "2017-06-21T21:36:53Z")
The OP sounds like a Huffington Post article. While not technically incorrect, it completely misrepresents the original article in a fashion that is designed to push a point. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yoko-extends-copyright-on-imagine-lyrics-by-37-years/789408/25 "2017-06-21T22:02:38Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Except it won’t extend the copyright at all Besides, it’s a bit hard to imagine that a lot of people were really longing for the song to enter public domain in 2051. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yoko-extends-copyright-on-imagine-lyrics-by-37-years/789408/26 "2017-06-22T00:41:59Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > The OP sounds like a Huffington Post article. While not technically incorrect, it completely misrepresents the original article in a fashion that is designed to push a point. Well, perhaps I’ll have to start reading Huffington Post then. Do they carry a lot of entertainment news? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yoko-extends-copyright-on-imagine-lyrics-by-37-years/789408/27 "2017-06-22T01:29:21Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Please explain how stealing a work is creative. Please explain how extracting rent is creative. (And, no, I’m not talking about landlords.) We have limited-term copyrights for a reason: Eventually, the free-loading _ends_. The free ride is over, and the corporation has to become productive, not just extractive. A single person being able to live for a lifetime off of one or two successful works is acceptable, given that having works that successful is akin to winning the lottery. Their heirs living off of, not just investments, but continued royalties is pointless. We’re no longer rewarding creativity with a large admixture of luck, we’re rewarding pure luck, completely untainted by any productive impulse. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yoko-extends-copyright-on-imagine-lyrics-by-37-years/789408/28 "2017-06-22T03:37:54Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Please explain how extracting rent is creative. > > (And, no, I’m not talking about landlords.) > > We have limited-term copyrights for a reason: Eventually, the free-loading _ends_. The free ride is over, and the corporation has to become productive, not just extractive. A single person being able to live for a lifetime off of one or two successful works is acceptable, given that having works that successful is akin to winning the lottery. Their heirs living off of, not just investments, but continued royalties is pointless. We’re no longer rewarding creativity with a large admixture of luck, we’re rewarding pure luck, completely untainted by any productive impulse. We’re back to just haggling about length. Almost nobody worth listening to claims that no copyrights should exist. (And I have my doubts about the “almost” but perhaps someone could provide the exception I’ve never found.) Copyright has already been longer than patents because the useful life of a creative work is on average longer than the useful life of a technological innovation and over time the life of the former keeps getting longer while the life of the latter keeps growing shorter. Creators certainly should be able to provide for their children and heirs just as the owner of any other business should. The people who squawk about copyrights would do so if copyright were back at the 28+28 length it used to be. I’ve stated on this Board I thought that was a good length. The world has changed, though. The ability to upload every piece of creative work to the Internet makes copyright enforcement nearly meaningless at the same time it has made every piece of creative work forever valuable. Copyright needs to be completely rethought from scratch. Cutting it’s length isn’t the answer. It’s not in the top 100 of concerns. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yoko-extends-copyright-on-imagine-lyrics-by-37-years/789408.md?page=1)