Zieguiet
Last week I walked into E's cube and asked if the
Public Domain was dead or not. I was thinking about Mickey Mouse and Superman. How could Disney and AOL/Time Warner let those properties go into the Public Domain. Their
time should be up eventually, but these characters are owned by powerful companies. We are becoming a country of Intellectual Properties. How in their right mind would let the Beatles songs go into the Public Domain.
Part of what is really the problem is technology. We are in that time in the world where we can save everything for ever. That was not true before. We are never going to hear Bach play, but in 200 years people will still be able to hear those old Beatles songs and see copies of Snow White.
It is not that I am against copyrights. I just think they are being abused by companies and people. I do not think just because you create something, you should be cashing in on it for the rest of your life. If it was up to me, I would make the copyright for everything a clean 50 years. I do not think it would discourage artists from making art. It would just force people to get there money while the iron is hot.
Today someone sent me a link to a news article
about this very subject. The writer has the same ideas that I have. I also heard that the Supreme Court might be hearing a lawsuit about the
"Sonny Bono" Copyright Term Extension Act. I guess this idea is just in the air. I am happy it is not just me thinking about
these things.
