Category: Copyright & Content

You may have noticed the “Free the Mouse” button on this page. It links to a site maintained by the plaintiffs in the Eldred v. Ashcroft case. Opening arguments in this important case will be heard before the Supreme Court later this month.

At issue is whether Congress has overstepped its Constitutional authority in extending the length of copyrights, giving corporate copyright holders additional profits at the expense of the public good.

From an article in the San Francisco Chronicle:

The original decision made more than 200 years ago to limit the length of copyrights was deliberate and carefully considered. The goal, which was expressed at the time in letters written by Thomas Jefferson and others, was to allow newcomers to build on and improve works produced by others, but only after the original creators of those works were compensated fairly for their efforts. The reason: Human progress builds upon itself.

Creativity doesn’t flourish in a world of closed and locked ideas. Throughout history, artists have used and built upon the creations of others. The most famous case in point provides the “Free the Mouse” slogan: Walt Disney “borrowed” the idea for Mickey Mouse from another animated character. In fact, much of the content created over the years by the Walt Disney corporation has not been original (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Magician’s Apprentice, Pinocchio, Beauty and the Beast, etc…). And yet it is Disney who pushed for the most recent extension of copyrights, in order to prevent Mickey Mouse from entering the public domain. Apparently, it’s OK for Disney to draw upon a rich pool of public domain ideas, but they wouldn’t dream of contributing to that pool after a reasonable period of compensation.

The outcome of this case will indicate whether our society is more interested in protecting the profits of large business, or in promoting the free exchange of ideas.

Yet another example of why the entertainment industry is the new evil empire, and is run by idiots.

With each passing day, industry arguments in favor of stricter controls on how consumers use information and entertainment become more absurd and outrageous.
An AOL Time Warner executive actually asserted that television viewers are under contract to watch advertisements:

“Your contract when you get the show is you’re going to watch the spots [advertisements]…. Any time you skip a commercial…you’re actually stealing the programming,” Kellner is quoted as saying. He goes on to note that “there’s a certain amount of tolerance” for going to the bathroom.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sued Turner Broadcasting and others over this issue, asserting that consumers have the right to record and watch TV as they please, without having information on their viewing habits forcibly turned over to entertainment companies (who will presumably use the data to track down the hardened criminals who aren’t watching ads for dentures).