From: Alfie Costa (agcosta@gis.net)
Date: Sat Jun 14 2003 - 00:20:47 CEST
Off topic, not mu-ey. It is related to the topics of free software and free
expression though, so it's not too out of place...
US citizens reading this list may wish to sign the petition described below.
Today it's up to 12,000 signatures, (I'm one of 'em), but more would be better.
It proposes a law to alleviate some of the harm done by an infinitely prolonged
copyright.
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Tue, 3 Jun 2003 17:51:23 -0700
To: openlaw-announce@eon.law.harvard.edu
From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [openlaw] Petition for copyright balance
The Supreme Court's decision in Eldred v. Ashcroft told us we'd have
to take our case to Congress to reclaim for public use the vast
quantity of art and literature under copyright but out of print. The
draft Public Domain Enhancement Act would help do that by requiring
copyright holders to pay a nominal fee 50 years after publication.
Under this proposed Act, copyright holders still commercially
exploiting their copyrights could retain those copyrights, and would
update the records telling others where to contact them for
licensing. Works that copyright holders didn't value at even $1,
however, would go into the public domain -- where others might find
new ways to use them.
We think this Act would restore some of the public's copyright
balance. If you agree, please consider signing the petition below:
<http://www.PetitionOnline.com/eldred/petition.html>
Thanks for your interest in Openlaw!
--- petition: <http://www.PetitionOnline.com/eldred/petition.html> ---
To: Members of the United States Congress
We, the undersigned, while believing in the importance of copyright,
also believe in the importance of the public domain. We believe the
public domain is crucial to the spread of knowledge and culture, and
crucial in assuring access to our past. We therefore write to
petition you to reconsider major changes that you have made to the
copyright system. These changes unnecessarily threaten the public
domain without any corresponding benefit to copyright holders.
In 1998, Congress passed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
(CTEA). That Act extended the term of all existing copyrights by 20
years. But as Justice Breyer calculated, only 2% of the work
copyrighted during the initial 20 years affected by this statute has
any continuing commercial value at all. The balance has disappeared
from the commercial marketplace, and, we fear, could disappear from
our culture generally.
For example: The vast majority of film created during the 1920s and
1930s is not commercially available. Because of the CTEA, much of it
remains under copyright. Yet because it is often impossible to track
down the copyright owners for these films, commercial and
noncommercial preservationist and distributors cannot safely restore
and distribute these films. And because these films were made from
nitrate-based stock, by the time the copyright to these films expire,
most of them will have dissolved.
The same is true with many other copyrighted works that are no longer
commercially available. Though the Internet could facilitate the
distribution of this work if the copyright owners could be
identified, the costs of locating these copyright owners is wildly
prohibitive. Schools and libraries are thus denied access to works
that otherwise could be made available at a very low cost.
Such burdens on access to work that has no continuing commercial
value serves no legitimate copyright purpose. It certainly does not
"promote the Progress of Science" as the Constitution requires. We
therefore ask Congress to consider changes to the current regime that
would free unused content from continued regulation, while respecting
the rights of existing copyright owners.
One solution in particular that we ask Congress to consider is the
Public Domain Enhancement Act. See http://eldred.cc This statute
would require American copyright owners to pay a very low fee (for
example, $1) fifty years after a copyrighted work was published. If
the owner pays the fee, the copyright will continue for whatever
duration Congress sets. But if the copyright is not worth even $1 to
the owner, then we believe the work should pass into the public
domain.
This legislation would strengthen the public domain without burdening
copyright owners. It would also help clarify rights over copyrighted
material, which in turn would enable reuse of that material. The law
could thus help restore balance to the protection of copyright, and
support the public domain.
We therefore call upon Congress to introduce this legislation, and to
hold hearings on the benefits that it might have to reviving a
vibrant public domain.
When technologists have given us a tool that could spread knowledge
universally, we should not allow the law to get in the way. The law
does so now. This Congress should change it.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
--- More information: <http://eldred.cc/> -- Chilling Effects: http://www.chillingeffects.org/ --------- You are receiving this email because you registered with the Openlaw project or Copyright's Commons. If you no longer wish to receive updates, please email openlaw-remove@openlaw.org. Openlaw is a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. <http://openlaw.org> ------- End of forwarded message ------- ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.NET email is sponsored by: eBay Great deals on office technology -- on eBay now! Click here: http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/711-11697-6916-5 _______________________________________________ Mulinux-forum mailing list Mulinux-forum@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mulinux-forum
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