Public Domain Enhancement Act petition

EricEldred writes "Please sign the petition and support the proposed Public Domain Enhancement Act. See eldred.cc for details. 'This statute would require American copyright owners to pay a very low fee (for example, $1) fifty years after a copyrighted work was published. If the owner pays the fee, the copyright will continue for whatever duration Congress sets. But if the copyright is not worth even $1 to the owner, then we believe the work should pass into the public domain.'" See the brief description of the Act if you aren't familiar with what Eldred and Lessig are proposing.

Comments

Cost for Jim Crow laws?

[kaltkalt]

To me, this is no different than charging KKK members $1 to enforce local Jim Crow laws (if they don't pay $1 for each law every $50 years, then the law comes off the books). Would this be a valid way of getting rid of Jim Crow laws? No way, I'm afraid to say.

dumbest slashdot story EVER

[Pave Low]

what the hell is going to be accomplished if this becomes law? Do you really think more works will become public domain because the owner won't pay 1 fuckin dollar? get real here.

i've seen some pretty dumb petitions, I can't believe this one made slashdot. Of course, when you have michael posting the story, you can't rule anything out.

If you want to sign petitions, this site has them all.