Slashdot Mirror
CBS, Others Sued For Copyright Infringement Over "Soft Kitty" In Big Bang Theory (arstechnica.com)
UnknowingFool writes: In the popular sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, Penny has sung "Soft Kitty" to the difficult Sheldon Cooper on numerous occasions as a lullaby and to comfort him. These scenes are such fan favorites that the song lyrics are sold on merchandise. The daughters of poet Edith Newlin are suing CBS, Warner Bros, and others claiming copyright infringement for her poem, "Warm Kitty".
The situation is not a simple copyright infringement case of Warner Brothers not obtaining any permission. The poem was created in the 1930s by Newlin, but she granted permission to Willis Music to be used as lyrics in their songbook Songs for the Nursery School. Warner Brothers obtained permission from Willis Music in 2007 for the song to be used in the show. Willis Music is also named as a defendant.
The situation is not a simple copyright infringement case of Warner Brothers not obtaining any permission. The poem was created in the 1930s by Newlin, but she granted permission to Willis Music to be used as lyrics in their songbook Songs for the Nursery School. Warner Brothers obtained permission from Willis Music in 2007 for the song to be used in the show. Willis Music is also named as a defendant.
It's 95 years for corporate authors. Individual authors are life plus 70. If the author died in 2004, then the copyright will expire in 2074.
Yes, it's too long, and it's silly.
Ignorance killed the cat. Curiosity was framed.
While I'm not in favor at all of endlessly extending copyright, I feel that the Bono Act missed two very important points.
1. If people/companies can't be bothered to remember to file for an extension, tough. Tough tough tough. That's how it was in the past. The current situation where they just get extended automatically won't resolve the issue sometimes where certain old things (ie. photos) may be under copyright but nobody has any idea at all how to find anybody who actually owns the copyright to try to license it.
2. If these copyrights are so valuable then why on earth is the federal government giving extensions away for free? That makes no sense.
Here's my proposal. OK, if the current terms aren't enough (ie. perhaps Disney comes to mind here), then at expiration allow the copyright holder to apply for a 10 year extension. The price? $100,000. Then when that expires, let them apply for another 10 year extension at 10 times the price of the previous one. So the next extension is $1 million, then $10 million, then $100 million, then $1 billion, then $10 billion, and so on. Eventually even Disney won't pay for it anymore. Could Disney really justify to its stockholders paying $10 million to renew the copyright on the oldest version of Mickey Mouse for 10 more years? Maybe not. But I'm pretty sure that once it reaches $1 billion that nobody is going to want to do that. Exponentially rising costs allows the copyright holder the opportunity to renew if they are willing to pay for it, which I think is fair if these copyrights are so valuable that they just must be extended. Since few will agree to pay even $100,000 in my solution, stuff will at least finally enter the public domain. If it makes anybody feel better, the recent EU copyright extension was so contentious that I can't imagine there's any real political will in Europe to ever extend that beyond what it is now.
Who wants to be a scientist when most of the population thinks that scientists are all socially-incompetent freaks? More broadly, who wants to learn more about science and technology when "the only people who care about that sort of thing" are complete losers?
I'm a scientist by profession and the main thing I think when I watch the show is "Wow, I wish I had time for such a great social life!"
Real scientists work very long hours. They might have time to get together with friends (e.g. to have take-away and watch a "nerd" TV show) maybe once every month or two. Most days, they'll come home from the lab, have a quick bit of supper, and then collapse from exhaustion.
And the failure, don't even get me started on the failure. You see, real science is about exploring the unknown - about pushing back the boundaries of human knowledge. It's about looking under rock after rock after rock in the hope of finding something interesting and failing to find anything time after time after time.
If someone were to make a TV show that conveyed what it's really like to be a scientist, after about 15 minutes of watching most of the audience would be curled up in fetal position in a closet sobbing "The horror! The Horror! Make it go away! Please make it all go away!"
No, I like the show precisely because it is such an over-the-top sunshine and unicorns fantasy.
> since a certain mouse is set to expire in 2023.
Spoiler alert: It won't.