Re: Copyright/everincreasing times

On Thursday 05 Jun 2003 3:22 pm, Juhana Sadeharju wrote:
> Hello. It looks nothing can be done for the everincreasing
> copyright protection times. People should look for alternatives
> where authors/publishers give up the rights.

Here's an alternative:

http://www.petitiononline.com/eldred/petition.html

To:  Members of the United States Congress

We, the undersigned, while believing in the importance of copyright, also=
=20
believe in the importance of the public domain. We believe the public dom=
ain=20
is crucial to the spread of knowledge and culture, and crucial in assurin=
g=20
access to our past. We therefore write to petition you to reconsider majo=
r=20
changes that you have made to the copyright system. These changes=20
unnecessarily threaten the public domain without any corresponding benefi=
t to=20
copyright holders.

In 1998, Congress passed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTE=
A).=20
That Act extended the term of all existing copyrights by 20 years. But as=
=20
Justice Breyer calculated, only 2% of the work copyrighted during the ini=
tial=20
20 years affected by this statute has any continuing commercial value at =
all.=20
The balance has disappeared from the commercial marketplace, and, we fear=
,=20
could disappear from our culture generally.

For example: The vast majority of film created during the 1920s and 1930s=
 is=20
not commercially available. Because of the CTEA, much of it remains under=
=20
copyright. Yet because it is often impossible to track down the copyright=
=20
owners for these films, commercial and noncommercial preservationist and=20
distributors cannot safely restore and distribute these films. And becaus=
e=20
these films were made from nitrate-based stock, by the time the copyright=
 to=20
these films expire, most of them will have dissolved.

The same is true with many other copyrighted works that are no longer=20
commercially available. Though the Internet could facilitate the distribu=
tion=20
of this work if the copyright owners could be identified, the costs of=20
locating these copyright owners is wildly prohibitive. Schools and librar=
ies=20
are thus denied access to works that otherwise could be made available at=
 a=20
very low cost.

Such burdens on access to work that has no continuing commercial value se=
rves=20
no legitimate copyright purpose. It certainly does not "promote the Progr=
ess=20
of Science" as the Constitution requires. We therefore ask Congress to=20
consider changes to the current regime that would free unused content fro=
m=20
continued regulation, while respecting the rights of existing copyright=20
owners.

One solution in particular that we ask Congress to consider is the Public=
=20
Domain Enhancement Act. See http://eldred.cc This statute would require=20
American copyright owners to pay a very low fee (for example, $1) fifty y=
ears=20
after a copyrighted work was published. If the owner pays the fee, the=20
copyright will continue for whatever duration Congress sets. But if the=20
copyright is not worth even $1 to the owner, then we believe the work sho=
uld=20
pass into the public domain.

This legislation would strengthen the public domain without burdening=20
copyright owners. It would also help clarify rights over copyrighted=20
material, which in turn would enable reuse of that material. The law coul=
d=20
thus help restore balance to the protection of copyright, and support the=
=20
public domain.

We therefore call upon Congress to introduce this legislation, and to hol=
d=20
hearings on the benefits that it might have to reviving a vibrant public=20
domain.

When technologists have given us a tool that could spread knowledge=20
universally, we should not allow the law to get in the way. The law does =
so=20
now. This Congress should change it.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned=20

--=20
=09=09=09Martin

[email protected] http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/ Erdos number: 4
G.K.Chesterton web site: http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/


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