Assistant Professor of English and Film Study, Eric Faden of Bucknell University, has produced a movie to address the overreaching copyright law now in effect in the USA.
For those of us who want to see copyright returned to its original intent as stated in our Constitution, before The Mouse and Sonny Bono turned it into a creatively-stifling money machine, this ten-minute movie is a breath of fresh air.
Another link to the same site: http://tinyurl.com/2n4flr
Enjoy!
If you are interested, here is the original language of the Copyright law (a mere 27 words):
U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8:
"The Congress shall have Power...
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
..."
(Emphasis added.)
The original 27 words have been amended to such a point that, in a broad brush sense, any use of any work is protected, for all intents and purposes, "forever."
The term of copyright protection varies with the date of creation. A work created on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life plus an additional 70 years after the author's death. For works made for hire, anonymous works and pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter."
(From http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.htm
For those of us who want to see copyright returned to its original intent as stated in our Constitution, before The Mouse and Sonny Bono turned it into a creatively-stifling money machine, this ten-minute movie is a breath of fresh air.
Another link to the same site: http://tinyurl.com/2n4flr
Enjoy!
If you are interested, here is the original language of the Copyright law (a mere 27 words):
U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8:
"The Congress shall have Power...
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
..."
(Emphasis added.)
The original 27 words have been amended to such a point that, in a broad brush sense, any use of any work is protected, for all intents and purposes, "forever."
The term of copyright protection varies with the date of creation. A work created on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life plus an additional 70 years after the author's death. For works made for hire, anonymous works and pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter."
(From http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.htm
Would love to know