Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Washington Post Article on the Copyright Term Extension Act

"For most of history, a great character or story or song has passed from its original creator into the public domain. Shakespeare and Charles Dickens and Beethoven are long dead, but Macbeth and Oliver Twist and the Fifth Symphony are part of our shared cultural heritage, free to be used or re-invented by anyone on the planet who is so inclined. But 15 years ago this Sunday, President Clinton signed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which retroactively extended copyright protection. As a result, the great creative output of the 20th century, from Superman to "Gone With the Wind" to Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue," were locked down for an extra 20 years."
 An interesting article by Timothy B. Lee in the Washington Post about a terrible law.   Hopefully, the Internet will be better mobilized in 2018.

No comments:

Post a Comment