raving lunacy - oxymorons for the 21st century

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, a copyright scholar, or even the sharpest pencil in the box. I am a cranky fellow with a computer, keyboard, internet connection, this blog, a bad attitude, and a desire to see the world become a better place. A soft center…who knew?

Yesterday, I mentioned Pamela Samuelson and a paper she posted,” Preliminary Thoughts on Copyright Reform “(pdf). If you haven’t read it, do so now, print it out and keep it handy. I have written extensively online about Copyright, and some is still in various corners of the web, but the last 4 years of my writing is no longer available.
Moving on…

Prior to the internet, my only interest in Copyright was to look inside the covers of books, to see when they were published, so that when I discovered an author, I had a reasonable chance of reading their books in order.

When I became a web designer, my interest in copyright began to change. Living in the US, I discovered that anything I created, was covered by copyright to me as the author. I am a money for stuff sort of fellow. I do stuff and you give me money. I thought it was that simple. I am not going to spend my time surfing the web looking for instances of infringement. Been there, Done That, have a closet full of t shirts from going down that road. My design business quickly became a Work for Hire(pdf.) business, shortly after my first Cease and Desist Copyright/Trademark Infringement Letter. ( I am now a Black Belt of the website disclaimer)

My blog and personal websites, being publications, albeit electronic, so the tangibility issue, reading it on a screen vs in your sweaty palms like a book or magazine, are protected by copyright. So are yours. Strictly speaking, just to give you an idea of how fucked up US Copyright Law currently is, you are violating my copyright by reading this. A copy of what you are reading is residing in the memory of your computer and being displayed on your screen.

Oh My God!! You could be in Serious Legal Jeopardy!! Relax!
I am about the last guy to crank up a lawyer and sue you for reading. I am a supporter of the Creative Commons and all of my stuff here is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. ( I am holding out for a movie deal with Matt Damon as me:)

If you are an individual who writes, composes, performs, or create visual arts, both static and moving, the United States is one of the worst places on earth to be creative in. US Copyright has become an Entitlement Program for ‘corporations’, legal people without the benefit of DNA, and in a lot of cases, no common sense.

According to the US Copyright Site, In the beginning:

“A principle of American law is that an author of a work may reap the fruits of his or her intellectual creativity for a limited period of time. Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States for original works of authorship, including literary, dramatic, musical, architectural, cartographic, choreographic, pantomimic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, and audiovisual creations. “Copyright” literally means the right to copy. The term has come to mean that body of exclusive rights granted by law to authors for protection of their work. The owner of copyright has the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, and, in the case of certain works, publicly perform or display the work; to prepare derivative works; in the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission; or to license others to engage in the same acts under specific terms and conditions. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, procedure, process, slogan, principle, or discovery.”
US COPYRIGHT Office Circular 1A

The original deal was the author has a set amount of time to make a living from their works, and in exchange for this protection, at the end of this period, the work was gifted to the Public Domain. Originally that was 14 years. Which is long enough. (You will see this material again.)

The Public Domain is where the Intellectual Achievements of our society are gathered. It is not a building or a place, but is an idea equal in merit with ‘All Men Are Created Equal’. It contains Literature, Art, Culture, the creative output of our citizens, and our legacy to our children and theirs. The length of Copyright has been extended a number of times before, but 1976 was the year, the Entertainment Industries grabbed Copyright and turned it into an Entitlement Program.

A whole lot of the Copyright Law needs repealing starting with resetting Copyright Protection back to 14 Years. Which is long enough.

The deal was simple. It needs to be simple again.