[opendtv] Re: Wright Issues Call To Copyright Action
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 08:57:08 -0400
At 10:52 PM -0700 10/29/04, Mike Enright wrote:
>By way of agreeing with you, I think you need to cast aside the habit of
>thinking of intellectual property as something that moves into the
>public domain someday. These rights belong to the public from the
>beginning.
Good point. The copyright period merely gives the copyright holder a
period of time to realize a return on their creative investment. The
act of applying for copyright is in fact an agreement to put the
content into the public domain.
>
>I think it would be interesting to work out the consequences of tying
>the term of a copyright to the credited author's life, whether or not
>the copyright is assigned. If the author dies at an untimely age, let
>the monopoly expire early. Let authors build their legacies for their
>heirs by exploiting their monopolies while alive and passing on an
>estate built on the rents they collected.
Unfortunately, copyright law has been Scorrupted to such a complete
extent, that the credited author may not even hold the copyright. For
authors. things are still pretty good:
- Write a book, and you are protected, although only to the extent of
the contract that you may have signed with a publisher.
Write a song and you are in good shape - lyrics and musical
compositions are well protected for the writer.
Perform a song and you may be out of luck -current copyright law
generally looks at performances as "works for hire." These length of
copyright for these works is not coupled to the individual performer;
in most cases the copyright is held by the record label that has the
performer under contract. I think the terms is something like 70
years now.
Dittos for all of the content produced by Hollywood. Disney's
Steamboat Willie (Micky Mouse, who was "cloned" from a popular movie
in the '30s , is now protected for 70 years, and you can bet that
Disney will be back trying to extend copyrights again when Mickey is
threatened by the public domain...again.
Originally, copyright law was very mush like what you want. An AUTHOR
could be granted 14 years of protection (not a commercial entity or
the family of the author). The author, if still living, could
request another 14 year extension of that copyright, but a commercial
entity or family of the author could not request such an extension.
As I understand it, extensions were rarely asked for or granted, for
the first 100 plus years after Congress enacted laws to enforce the
copyright provisions in the Constitution. Now copyright can extend
for as long as 70 years after the death of the author, and these
extensions are routinely granted to corporations and family members
with an "interest" in the authors original copyright.
>I've also seen suggestions that renewal be required very frequently, so
>that if someone can't be bothered to renew, it must indicate that the
>commercial aspect has played out.
I think the original legislation implementing copyright was the
correct approach. 14 years to make your profits, and another 14, if
the author is still living and there is a commercial interest worth
protecting for another 14 years.
Regards
Craig
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