June 03, 2003
Reclaiming the public domain
From Larry Lessig's blog:
We have launched a petition to build support for the Public Domain Enhancement Act. That act would require American copyright holders to pay $1 fifty years after a work was published. If they pay the $1, the copyright continues. If they don’t, the work passes into the public domain. Historical estimates would suggest 98% of works would pass into the pubilc domain after 50 years. The Act would do a great deal to reclaim a public domain.
This proposal has received a great deal of support. It is now facing some important lobbyists’ opposition. We need a public way to begin to demonstrate who the lobbyists don’t speak for. This is the first step.
If you are an ally in at least this cause, please sign the petition. Please blog it, please email it, please spam it, please buy billboards about it — please do whatever you can. And most importantly, please help us explain its importance. There is a chance to do something significant here. But it will take a clearer, simpler voice than mine.
Posted by sfisher at June 3, 2003 11:29 AMComments
This seems to be a critical point in history. Industry, government and the public are negotiating the terms on which intellectual properties will be exchanged for the new marketplaces that are emerging.
We need to mobilize more that just the techno-elite. We need the mainstream to be aware of what they could lose.
Posted by: the crazy vegan at June 3, 2003 04:25 PM
It's funny how all of this was started by a guy who simply wanted to make hyperlinked versions of *classic* novels and literature. Yet *the man* freaked out and took him to court, and now it's making (certain) people begin to look at copyright vs. public domain work in a very different, and more progressive light than it was in the past.
Unfortunately, right now it's really only industry and government that are negotiating on any effectual level, and the public (in general) is being fed the rhetoric of these old, entrenched industry folk- the idea that *relaxed* copyrights somehow will completely strip the creator / innovator of the rights to their work (which is a ludicrous notion). Hopefully the petition is a start - a step in the right direction to make the public voice more informed and involved in the debate.
Posted by: William Carter at June 4, 2003 09:40 AM
Anyone can learn from pain.
Posted by: Gallers Donna at December 10, 2003 04:07 PM
