The Question of Copyright - Part 2

Last week we explored the rules of US copyright under the terms of the Copyright Act of 1976, which extended registration for 20 years over previous versions of the copyright laws, meaning that works registered in 1923 would fall into the public domain this year. But with the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (or here in pdf form) all this gets thrown out the window. This Act extends the copyright for all current covered and future works for an additional 20 years. This means that works registered in 1922 went out of copyright in 1998, but works registered in 1923 (and properly renewed) will remain copyrighted until January 1, 2019. In other words, for all intents and purposes, we will not see anything enter the public domain until 2019!

The law was essentially pushed through not by the creators of the works subject to copyright, but their descendants, ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) 1, and Disney (threatened by the loss of royalties provided by Mickey Mouse).

U.S. Copyright Office's explanation of the exemptions under the extension for "certain libraries and archives."

Also, in a memo to National Humanities Alliance members and friends, NHA Director John Hammer attempted to explain how the Term Extension (as well as The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and other pending legislation) effects "scholars, scholarly societies, libraries and others in communities that the National Humanities Alliance (NHA) serves. The memo is reproduced here.

The Opposition

At the forefront of the opposition is Eric Eldred and his Eldritch Press, with their civil action suit against the US Attorney General. (Here's the link for a copy of the complaint.) According to their press release:

Eric Eldred founded the Eldritch Press in late 1995 as a means of demonstrating that computers could be used to present books on the Internet in new ways, and in ways that improved upon the capabilities of print books. Initially, the Eldritch Press began with works of American literature, by authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes (Sr.), and Henry James. Because some of the works Eldritch Press posts are not included in library collections or are long out of print, they are not obtainable by the public in any other way. The Eldritch Press now posts new works the moment they enter the public domain.

Mr. Eldred has some very strong arguments for limitation of copyright.

In support of Eldred v. Reno, is a site run by CAUCUS, (Coalition Against Unlimited Copyright in the United States), which