I’m of two minds on this article: On the one hand, copyright law is completely effed (thank you, Disney!) and should be scrapped and rewritten for the 21st century. Artists should be free to use others’ works to create new art, providing a. credit and attribution is given appropriately, and b. the original work is kept available for anyone to view/read/buy etc.
On the other hand, as it is, the Philip K. Dick estate has been very lenient in allowing others to play with his stories — very lenient (I’m looking at you, “Next” and “Paycheck.”) The estate is simply wanting to get what was previously agreed and promised to them, and they’re certainly in the right for that! In this case, the studio is simply looking for a loophole to avoid their obligations (as is their usual M.O.).
As a freakin huge fan of PKD, even with business ethics that put the estate in the right, aside, I want the estate to win. But I must still admit — I think the film was much better than the story, which suffers from PKD’s too-often emotionally sterile style.
