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Copyright Activism After Eldred
Posted by Raul Ruiz on Friday, January 17 @ 10:27:12 EST
Contributed by sivav
Copyright
sivav writes "I have an article on Salon.com today that discusses the public interest copyright reform movement. Here it is:

By Siva Vaidhyanathan

Jan. 17, 2003  |  When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Congress was within its constitutional bounds to extend the duration of all copyrights by 20 years -- up to 70 years beyond the life of the author and potentially infinitely -- many saw the ruling as a knockout blow to the movement to reform copyright.

Some on the public interest side are tempted to lament what could be called the "Dred Scott case for culture," unjustifiably locking up content that deserves to be free. After all, six of the nine justices concurred with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she issued a stark opinion that cavalierly dismissed the historical "bargain" that justified American copyright in the first place: We the People agree to grant a limited, temporary monopoly to a creator or publisher in exchange for access to creativity and the eventual return of the work to a state of freedom.

And Ginsburg's opinion did not allow that the purpose of copyright is to encourage future production, not lock up works already created. She ignored the fact that the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 does nothing to "promote the progress" of science or art because it grants no incentive to produce and distribute new works.

So out of despair some might see civil disobedience -- hacking and freely distributing songs and films over digital networks -- as the only remaining response to the excesses of the copyright regimes and the hold they have over courts and Congress.

While disobedience might be more fun, the power of civil discourse remains. In fact, the ruling gives public interest activists both motivation and ammunition in the continuing battle against the excessive expansion of the power to control information and culture.

As is so often the case, the best rallying cry came from a dissenter in the case. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote: "It is easy to understand how the statute might benefit the private financial interests of corporations or heirs who won existing copyrights. But I cannot find any constitutionally legitimate, copyright-related way in which the statute will benefit the public." This is the key to any public interest movement: Show that narrow special interests are getting away with everything and the public interest is suffering.
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"User's Login" | Login/Create an Account | 2 comments | Search Discussion
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Flaws (Score: 0)
by Anonymous (Name Withheld on Advice of Counsel) on Friday, January 17 @ 11:09:21 EST
The top page of the EFF's web site has no mention of Eldred's case. None. What sort of commitment to the public domain is that ?

Fair use and idea/expression are no substitutes for the public domain. They were developed because, even in the balmy days when copyrights expired after a reasonable time, the burdens of copyright would otherwise have become too great. The public retains the right to the timely entry of every copyrighted work into the public domain. Boucher's bill, nice though it is, does nothing to restore to the public this right.

Where are the practical details being worked out? Everyone says "write your congresscritters". No one seems to have a plan to coordinate these efforts. We need not only to write letters and make phone calls, but to write letters and make calls in a coordinated way that will get the attention of congressional staff. This means that if there are several supporters of the public domain in a congressional district, they should plan ahead of time to make their phone calls to the congressman within a certain time period. They should plan ahead of time whether they will call the local office, the D.C. office, or both. If there aren't enough people in some districts, then the few should coordinate with others in their state in contacting senators. And again, the letters and calls should be coordinated ahead of time to agree on scheduling and on choice of pushbutton words. I will better believe in our chances for overcoming the enormous public-choice imbalances we face when I see calls to action which include links to plans with the level of detail and coordination suggested here.


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(part four) (Score: 0)
by Anonymous (Name Withheld on Advice of Counsel) on Sunday, January 19 @ 09:01:44 EST
On Justice's scales a small mouse is sat
Swinging one side near the rich and the fat.
It leans up to whisper in Justice's ear
That the end of the hot Sonny day was now near.
Really, Justice, there's no need for humility.
Only you can save our nation's credibility.
Creativeness shouldn't come for free.
Both words start with an encircled c.
What good ever came from the public domain?
The evils of Torvalds, open source the same.
Taking away from those who mean well
Like Microsoft, Sony and AOL.

(cont. elsewhere)


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