[Dear Readers: Please feel free to forward and circulate the following.]
Most readers of this list who have followed the effort mounted to overturn the insidious Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act (CTEA) -- an effort supported by the College Art Association -- were gravely disappointed and disheartened (if not surprised) when the Supreme Court affirmed Congress's right to define the length of copyright anyway it likes -- save that it cannot be defined as perpetual.
Historians and artists and all creative people depend upon the public domain as a repository of freely accessible ideas and expressions. Unfortunately CTEA has made it clear that the many works of vital interest to the art historian and artist constituencies will be continually swept into the pool of works forever protected by copyright extension. As it now stands, it is impossible to distinguish between works of commercial value and works without commercial value.
Lawrence Lessig, who argued the challenge to CTEA before the Supreme Court, has suggested legislation that would serve to divide these two categories of works. Simply put, he suggests that after a fifty year interval subsequent to publication (current copyright is 75 years after the death of the creator), copyright owners and/or their administrators be given the opportunity to renew their copyright by the payment of a small tax, say $1.00 per copyright. This procedure will serve to separate the 98 percent of works of no commercial value from the 2 percent that copyright holders still wish to exploit.
Yesterday, an on-line petition was established. By this morning (6/4/03) it had received over 5,000 signatures. I urge you to look at the proposed legislation and consider adding your names to the list.
Here are some relevant information resources: Lessig's web-log (blog): http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/blog/archives/2003_06.shtml#001254 Latest news about the petition: http://www.eldred.cc/ The Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/eldred/petition.html Thank you all for your help. =========================== Robert A. Baron mailto:[email protected] http://www.studiolo.org =========================== Robert A. Baron mailto:[email protected] http://www.studiolo.org --- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]
