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Google Pushes Back Against US Copyright Treaty
Hugh Pickens writes "Internet companies led by Google joined groups representing Web users to challenge the Bush administration's bid to toughen international enforcement against copyright pirates. The companies said the US courts and Congress are still working out the correct balance between protecting copyrights and the free exchange of information on the Web and a treaty could be counterproductive. 'There's this assumption that what is good for Disney is what's good for America, but that's an oversimplification,' said Jonathan Band, an intellectual property lawyer representing libraries and high-tech companies. 'There's also what's good for Yahoo and Google.' The US, Japan, Canada and other nations said last year that they would begin negotiations on an agreement aimed at cracking down on counterfeiting of such goods as watches and pharmaceuticals, and the piracy of copyrighted materials, such as software and music recordings. A leaked draft of the deal showed that the treaty could force Internet service providers to cooperate with copyright holders."
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Disney copyrights its unique interpretation of the story. In all media would you care to guess how many alternative versions exist of:
Snow White
Pinocchio
The Wind in the Willows
The Legend of Ichabod Crane
Peter Pan
Cinderella
Sleeping Beauty
The Jungle Book
Robin Hood
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
Not to mention 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Treasure Island and Zorro.
The geek whines on endlessly about Disney's copyrights. If you are Rogers & Hammerstein or the puppeteer Jim Henson you make the stories your own.