2018 Is the Last Year of America's Public Domain Drought (vice.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Happy Public Domain Day, every-some of you! In New Zealand and Canada, published works by artists who died in 1967 -- Rene Magritte, Dorothy Parker, John Coltrane, and many others -- have entered the public domain; Kiwis and Canadians can now freely distribute, perform, and remix a wealth of painting, writing, and music. In Europe, work published by artists who died in 1947 are now public domain. In the United States, well, we get nothing for the 20th year in a row, with one more to go. Our public domain drought is nearly old enough to drink. American copyrights now stretch for 95 years. Since 1998, we've been frozen with a public domain that only applies to works from before 1923 (and government works). Jennifer Jenkins is a clinical professor of law at Duke Law School, which hosts the Center for the Study of the Public Domain. In an email she explained what changed and why nothing has entered American public domain for two decades. "Until 1978, the maximum copyright term was 56 years from the date of publication -- an initial term of 28 years, renewable for another 28 years," she wrote. "In 1998, Congress added 20 years to the copyright term, extending it to the author's lifetime plus 70 years, or 95 years after publication for corporate 'works made for hire.'"

Comments

PROPERTY

[mi]

If I build a house, I can will it to my ancestors, it will remain ours in perpetuity unless sold at some point.

If, on the other hand, I write a tune or a book, or develop a drug, or create a painting — well, then I will only be rewarded for a brief period. Or so the article's author would like things to be.

In the United States, well, we get nothing

Bullshit. You get everything — just not for free. You can buy royalty-free stock photography and music — rewarding the creators for those of the creations you like. This is a much better system than the proposed collective ownership of art because the flip side of the wonderful free availability is the artists either starving or needing tax subsidies.

Re:PROPERTY

[mi]

Did you pay a royalty for the idea of using a roof and walls, or did you steal those?

Of course, I paid a variety of royalties for all the wonderful materials invented by smart people to make the houses more comfortable and easier to build — the payments are conveniently part of the price of each item.

Yes, I would've paid the inventor of the roof and the walls — if a valid claim of ownership were presented.