First Few Doctor Who Episodes May Fall To Public Domain Next Year

First time accepted submitter wmr89502270 writes "Doctor Who is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The special The Day of The Doctor will be broadcast simultaneously in over 75 countries and hundreds of cinemas in the UK. Across the world the hotly anticipated special episode will be screened simultaneously in full 3D. According to Copyright law of the United Kingdom, the copyright in a broadcast program expires 50 years from the end of the year in which it is broadcast, which means the first episodes will fall to public domain next year."

Comments

Although I must add...

[Lirodon]

It probably won't hit PD in America until 3025. Like any other cultural work.

Re:Although I must add...

[TWiTfan]

U.S. Copyright law stipulates that copyrighted works only fall into the public domain when Disney runs out of money to bribe Congress for another extension.

Re:Although I must add...

[jedidiah]

It takes a lot to balance out all of the hypocrites that want to treat out planet like a toilet while pretending they defend the values of the Boy Scouts.

Doesn't mean you can copy it.

[Jason Pollock]

The music, script and everything else will still be under copyright, and those rights are required to make a copy of the show.

What you _might_ be able to do is make a derivative work of the audio+video in the episode.

Re:the mouse will just make it so there is no time

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that guy smoked a bunch of "herb" then had a few beers before deciding to get on the Internet.

Translation from drunk stoner who can't seem to use grammar: "Disney keeps extending Copyright in the US so that they can keep taking movies out of circulation and put them in the so called 'Disney Vault', taking it off the market and exploiting Copyright which prevents anyone else from legally fulfilling the demand allows for demand to build up artificially so they can then start selling the mothballed movies again at full price in 're-release'".

Re:BBC's most effective copyright strategy in effe

[BigBadBus]

Also, don't forget that the Actors and Musicians union limited the number of repeats that could be shown in any given year; nowadays it seems to be mostly repeats with a few new programmes thrown in to the schedules occasionally.
The Union members hated repeats as their members didn't get paid as much compared to first-run broadcasts. So effectively, the TV broadcasters were accumulating large amounts of material that they couldn't reshow.

Re:BBC's most effective copyright strategy in effe

[odie5533]

You don't see any solution? How about shorter copyright terms so people can redistribute the works instead of needing to privately hoard them for 95 years.

wrong title

[sxpert]

should read "elevated to public domain"

Re:Which indicates their abuse.

[jareth-0205]

What the fuck are you talking about? There is no requirement for someone to keep a copy of material they create. What sort of reality do you live in?

Re:Of course the actual copies existing is in doub

[Godwin O'Hitler]

When *anything* is broadcast, nobody can be sure whether one day it will be part of our cultural legacy. Even when there's a time machine in it.

Re:Of course the actual copies existing is in doub

[TheRaven64]

Any form of entertainment that is enjoyed by a nontrivial proportion of the population is part of our cultural legacy. It's only later that you can tell how important a part it is.