The absurd length of copyright today constitutes a theft from the public. We are locking up our culture under threat of massive statutory penalties and legal fees. By failing to act to significantly reduce the length of copyright terms we are doing a massive disservice to future generations. Meanwhile, trade agreements such as the TPP seek to export our flawed copyright model abroad and lock it in with global agreements.
At the very least we need “orphan works” legislation to free into the public domain those works which history has forgotten and for which rightsholders are impossible to identify or locate. As it currently stands, the threat of massive statutory penalties creates too much risk in making those kinds of works available.
Excite, won’t it be great that restaurants will again be allowed to sing Happy Birthday to someone who is there for their birthday? They have had to sing some other goofy made up song which is not nearly as good.
The absurd length of copyright today constitutes a theft from the public. We are locking up our culture under threat of massive statutory penalties and legal fees. By failing to act to significantly reduce the length of copyright terms we are doing a massive disservice to future generations. Meanwhile, trade agreements such as the TPP seek to export our flawed copyright model abroad and lock it in with global agreements.
At the very least we need “orphan works” legislation to free into the public domain those works which history has forgotten and for which rightsholders are impossible to identify or locate. As it currently stands, the threat of massive statutory penalties creates too much risk in making those kinds of works available.
Excite, won’t it be great that restaurants will again be allowed to sing Happy Birthday to someone who is there for their birthday? They have had to sing some other goofy made up song which is not nearly as good.