By Jeff John Roberts - gigaom - Aug. 20, 2013
Congress is conducting a review of America’s copyright laws, a process that could shape culture and creativity for a generation or more. While the process has so far focused on how to stop piracy, some are asking if Hollywood will try to extend copyright terms once again in order to prevent works like Mickey Mouse from falling into the public domain.
The question came up on the Volokh Conspiracy, a blog popular with legal types, where a law prof proposed starting a pool on whether Congress would extend copyright terms by another 20 years.
While the larger debate has been relatively quiet so far, it could flare up again as it did in the late 1990s when the last 20-year extension led to a bitter legal fight between scholars and librarians on one hand, and Hollywood and the music industry on the other. The entertainment industry ultimately prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled 7-2 that copyright laws stretching more than a century were not unconstitutional.
This time around, it’s unclear whether Disney and others will push for another law similar to the 1998 one that critics derided as “The Mickey Mouse Protection Act.” But the same issue — the impending arrival of Mickey’s Steamboat Willie movie into the public domain — still remains, leading cynics to predict that Hollywood will lobby for another extension.
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The question came up on the Volokh Conspiracy, a blog popular with legal types, where a law prof proposed starting a pool on whether Congress would extend copyright terms by another 20 years.
While the larger debate has been relatively quiet so far, it could flare up again as it did in the late 1990s when the last 20-year extension led to a bitter legal fight between scholars and librarians on one hand, and Hollywood and the music industry on the other. The entertainment industry ultimately prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled 7-2 that copyright laws stretching more than a century were not unconstitutional.
This time around, it’s unclear whether Disney and others will push for another law similar to the 1998 one that critics derided as “The Mickey Mouse Protection Act.” But the same issue — the impending arrival of Mickey’s Steamboat Willie movie into the public domain — still remains, leading cynics to predict that Hollywood will lobby for another extension.
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One problem that has emerged from the US increasing its standard term from 50 years to 70 years is that countries with free trade agreements with the US, like Australia, were forced to do the same. NZ doesn't have such an agreement.
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