ALERT! – Copyright Bill

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • April 13, 2008 at 4:40 pm #69332
    AlexG
    Keymaster

    Masschine posted this yesterday on Unrealmuscle, but failed to remember to cross-post it here, also.

    Thankfully, your friendly neighborhood Immortal One keeps a sharp eye out for these sorts of things.  8)

    There is a bill in congress that could seriously affect nearly every competitor and photographer out there. Read this article…
    http://mag.awn.com/?ltype=pageone&article_no=3605

    Beware the goverment-media-corporate complex.  >:(

    “I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
    ~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

    April 13, 2008 at 5:32 pm #69333
    Lingster
    Keymaster

    The writer is losing his shit, huh?  You wouldn't know it from his rant, but there are actually very good arguments for orphaned works reform.  And this bill will probably have no effect on him, at least not until decades from now.

    Copyright protections in the U.S. are out of control – currently anything created prior to about 1922 is in the public domain, but very little created since, unless explicitly placed in the public domain by creators.  The result of this is that vast, vast quantities of material held by libraries, collectors and museums cannot be distributed digitally because ownership status is unclear or unknown.

    All this law does is open the door so that content of unclear ownership can eventually be freed up for distribution.  The most recent version of this bill to be introduced to the House of Representatives affects no work that is less than fifty years old, and requires a $1 fee be paid to preserve copyright on any item more than 50 years old, up to 95 years, at which time copyright lapses.

    It is benign, and the people who oppose it are the likes of the MPAA and the RIAA, and dupes who believe their propaganda.  The only way it might negatively affect artists is by freeing up an avalanche of old free content that might compete with new content they create for income purposes.

    April 13, 2008 at 5:49 pm #69334
    Lingster
    Keymaster

    Also, I just found this piece at Boing Boing.  h/t: Whitechapel

    April 13, 2008 at 11:26 pm #69335
    demented20
    Participant

    I read this thread thinking that I was just going to check out the conspiracy theory of the day, but I was dragged down into a never ending pit of links and blogs and articles on blogs that are linked to other articles that are linked…

    It all boils down to one thing.  Copyright laws in the US are so screwy because Mickey Mouse was created in 1928 and would have become part of the public domain years ago if the laws had not been changed to keep that from happening. Every other problem that concerns copyrights is a symptom of that root. So as one of the bloggers said, "Blame Disney"

    April 19, 2008 at 5:05 pm #69336
    Prophet Tenebrae
    Participant

    Ah, the Orphan bill again… yeah, someone posted this over on the Process some time ago.

    After the initial frothing at the mouth, a lot of people pointed out what Lingster did and also that – this bill has been brought forward several times and smacked down. So, no need to worry.

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.