Here is some history on copyright for you. Notice how far the current life of copyright has been extended beyond its original limits (from the original 14 years to the present 114 years, and I am sure longer once that limit is up) and how its purpose has been twisted like a pretzel. Also note how the cowardly ConGreaseMen did not have the courage for a normal vote and took a "voice vote" so we can't know their names...and then pay attention to the way unconstitutionality of present copyright scheme is being curtailed.
ST
The Copyright Act of 1790 was the first Federal copyright act to be instituted in the United States, though most of the states had passed various legislation securing copyrights in the years immediately following the Revolutionary War. The stated object of the act was the "encouragement of learning," and it achieved this by securing authors the "sole right and liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing and vending" the copies of their "maps, charts, and books" for a term of 14 years, with the right to renew for one additional 14 year term should the copyright holder still be alive.
Prior to the 1976 copyright act, many copyrighted literary works, movies, and fictional characters were soon to pass into the public domain due to their 56-year maximum copyright terms. Some of these copyrighted items remained quite profitable for their copyright owners, including several characters owned by the Walt Disney Company. With the passage of the 1976 copyright act, Mickey Mouse, along with early animated short films such as Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy, would not enter the public domain until 2000 at the earliest due to their new 75-year copyright terms.
After the United States' accession to the Berne convention, a number of copyright owners successfully lobbied the U.S. Congress for another extension of the term of copyright...Both houses of the United States Congress passed the act as Public Law 105-298 with a voice vote, making it impossible to determine who voted for or against. President Bill Clinton signed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 on October 21, 1998. As a consequence of the act, under current law, no copyrighted works will enter into the public domain in the United States until January 1, 2019 at the earliest, when the copyright on works created in 1923 would expire.
Political Climate
In addition to Disney (whose extensive lobbying efforts inspired the nickname "The Mickey Mouse Protection Act"), Mary Bono (Sonny Bono's widow and Congressional successor) and the estate of George Gershwin supported the act. Mary Bono, speaking on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, noted that "Sonny wanted the term of copyright protection to last forever", but that since she was "informed by staff that such a change would violate the Constitution", Congress might consider Jack Valenti's proposal of a copyright term of "forever less one day".
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One can thus argue that a rich, continually replenished, public domain is necessary for continued artistic creation. For example, the works of Shakespeare and the Greek myths have been the basis for much of Neil Gaiman's writing, which might well not have been created if they were still under copyright. Recent works that have entered the popular culture, and for which copyright is arguably not appropriate, include the novels that created Frankenstein and Dracula, both originating in the 19th century. Most of the holy writings of major religions are also in the public domain, which allows them to be adapted, translated, paraphrased and otherwise made suitable to modern audiences. If the Roman Catholic Church had a perpetual copyright on the letters of Paul of Tarsus, it could have refused to license them for translation, or for use by other churches. Many of Disney's most famous feature movies have themselves been derivatives of public domain works; for example, their film The Jungle Book was created only seven years after the copyright on the book expired. |
