oday, Silicon Valley companies – especially Google – give generously to right-leaning think tanks that publish writing skeptical of copyright protection. Google has donated to almost every right-leaning think tank in Washington, including the R Street Institute, the Cato Institute, the Mercatus Center, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation. So if you’re a right-leaning copyright skeptic, it’s easy to find organizations to publish your work.
Even for if it’s for a good cause, this kind of stuff still leaves a dirty taste in my mouth.
This is nothing compared to the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
That act has done immense damage to the preservation of our culture since 1927 all in the name of keeping Mickey Mouse under an air tight lock and key.
It needs to be replaced with something more reasonable like escalating renewal fees every 20 years. Is it right for every photo and recording made in WWII to be locked up until after 2120?
Nah, we need to be more drastic than that. 20 years, no renewals. The reason movies seem to be running out of good ideas is that all the great ones are still under copyright, to say nothing of the damage this does to software. DOS abandonware written before 1994 should NOT be copyrightable, to say nothing of the really historic software like Unix System 7 or TOPS-10.
I agree, EA had 13 years to do something with Wing Commander, Chris Roberts should have been able to make a new game, rather than having to create a new IP which was basically a thinly veiled rip off of Wing Commander. Absolutely ridiculous how IP laws stifle innovation and hold up progress.
Edited 2014-05-12 02:37 UTC
So glad Republicans killed SOPA. I truly hope that was a turning point away from the march toward eternal copyright, as the article suggests.
End eternal copyright?
Not if the owners of a certain M. Mouse copyright have anything to say about it. But I have to ask, when was the last cartoon featuring the aforementioned character released?
The latest episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse aired about six weeks ago. There’s still a couple more episodes to be aired this season.
I don’t think it’s a very good show. Unfortunately my children think otherwise.
Yes it is perfect proof how well designed the checks and balances are worked out in the US federal system. Congress was designed to be slow and inefficient so that oppressive laws would suffer scrutiny and people like Al Gore would not be allowed to bankrupt the country with his carbon exchanges.
Think tanks are so Orwellian, except the tank part.
Think tanks are important because even supposed “intellectuals” don’t really think for themselves.
So since neither does any thinking they kind of cancel each-other out?
so the left aren’t as liberty minded as they’d have you think.