Slashdot Mirror
Alternative 2009 Copyright Expirations
jrincayc writes "It's nearly the end of 2009. If the 1790 copyright maximum term of 28 years was still in effect, everything that had been published by 1981 would be now be in the public domain — like the original Ultima and God Emperor of Dune — and would be available for remixing and mashing up. If the 1909 copyright maximum term of 56 years (if renewed) were still in force, everything published by 1953 would now be in the public domain, freeing The City and the Stars and Forbidden Planet. If the 1976 copyright act term of 75* years (* it's complicated) still applied, everything published by 1934 would now be in the public domain, including Murder on the Orient Express. But thanks to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, nothing in the US will go free until 2018, when 1923 works expire." Assuming Congress doesn't step in with a Copyright Extension Act of 2017. What are the odds?
It depends on the contents of your vomit, but yes, I'd imagine it'd be an advancing collection of cultures, from your repository.
Always proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Poor Leto. Killed by *all* those inner voices demanding royalties for the copyright of their memories. Eternal royalties. The Golden Path ends before it could begin.
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
So what they meant was "we couldn't give a shit what the constitution intends[, we're happy to have it's purpose undermined to the point it's hollower than a slice of swiss cheese]".
Yay for living in Europe, where the spirit of the law still counts for something.
Seriously - there is no justification for extension of copyright being retroactive. People aren't going to be motivated to retroactively create new old works...
Time Lords need creative incentives too, you insensitive clod!
Take off every Sig. For great justice.
This is why Disney are doing the world a favour by repeatedly buying copyright extensions. It forces people to come up with their own creative original stories - you know, like Disney did - rather than ripping off other people's stories that just happen to be old enough to no longer be protected. Thanks to Disney, creative artists now have the kind of long-term protection that Hans Christian Andersen, Rudyard Kipling and Lewis Carroll never enjoyed, whereas cheap rip-off merchants who only plunder other people's ideas can no longer ply their grimy trade.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Do you think the European Comission cares about "the spirit" of anything?
Only if it's of high enough proof.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.