Re: [WP editorial] Copyright Craziness
- From: Tony Kline <tonykline@[redacted]>
- Subject: Re: [WP editorial] Copyright Craziness
- Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 07:23:18 -0700 (PDT)
But....Copyright beyond the artists or inventors own lifetime does not
promote the arts or sciences....nor does it secure the copyright to them
but only to their representatives........or am I just being stupid as
usual.....(ha ha ..don't answer that!!)..someone explain to me how
copyright beyond the lifetime of the creator does either of the things
the Constitution intended!! (or does the Court think creativity still
hovers around after death to inspire the third cousins twice removed?)
Best Wishes
Tony
> J Flenner <varney@[redacted]> wrote: Copyright Craziness
>
> Friday, August 17, 2001
> Washington Post, Editorial, Page A22
> THE U.S. COURT of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last month
> declined to reconsider an earlier ruling that Congress has
> essentially unchecked authority to extend copyright protections.
> The Constitution gives Congress the power "to promote the
> Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited
> Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their
> respective Writings and Discoveries." Over the nation's life, the
> phrase "limited times" has proved almost infinitely elastic.
> Copyrights were initially granted for 28-year periods, but
> Congress has serially extended protection so that it now extends
> 70 years beyond the life of the author.