The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended United States copyright law terms in the United States by 20 years. Before the act, an author's Copyright would last until fifty years after his death. After the act, an author's copyright would last until seventy years after his death, while copyrights for works of corporate authorship would last 75 to 95 years. The act also affected copyright terms for copyrighted works published prior to January 1, 1978, increasing their term of protection by 20 years as well. This effectively 'froze' the advancement date of the public domain in the United States for works covered by the older fixed term copyright rules. Under this act, no additional works made in 1923 or after, that were still copyrighted in 1998, will enter the public domain until 2019. Unlike copyright extension legislation in the European Union, the Sonny Bono Act did not revive copyrights that had already expired. However, the act did extend the terms of protection set for works that were already copyrighted, and is retroactive in that sense. == Background == Under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the signatory states are required to provide copyright protection for a minimum term of the life of the author plus fifty years, but they are permitted to provide for a longer term of protection, and between 1993 and 1996 the European Union provided protection for a term of the author's life plus seventy years (see Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection). The United States did not become a Berne signatory until 1988, but had previously provided for the minimum copyright term the convention required in the Copyright Act of 1976. Prior to the 1976 copyright act, many copyrighted literature, film, and fictional characters were soon to pass into the public domain due to their 56-year maximum copyright terms. Some of these copyrighted items remained quite profitable for their copyright owners, including several characters owned by the Walt Disney Company. With the passage of the 1976 copyright act, Mickey Mouse, along with early animation short film such as ''Steamboat Willie'' and ''Plane Crazy'', would not enter the public domain until 2000 at the earliest due to their new 75-year copyright terms. In several countries (e.g. in Russia, where the Berne convention was not applied retroactively) Mickey Mouse and all other copyrighted works created before 1970 are now in the public domain. After the United States' accession to the Berne convention, a number of copyright owners successfully lobbying the Congress of the United States for another extension of the term of copyright, to provide for the same term of protection that exists in Europe. The act was named after the late Congressman, Sonny Bono, who had favored this position as a songwriter and filmmaker even prior to his entry into politics. Both houses of the United States Congress passed the act as Public Law 105-298 with a voice vote, making it impossible to determine who voted for or against. President Bill Clinton signed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 on October 21, 1998. As a consequence of the act, under current law, no copyrighted works will enter into the public domain in the United States until January 1, 2019 at the earliest, when the copyright on works created in 1923 would expire. == Political Climate == In addition to Walt Disney Company (whose extensive lobbying efforts inspired the nickname "The Mickey Mouse Protection Act"), Mary Bono (Sonny Bono's widow and Congressional successor) and the estate of George Gershwin supported the act. Mary Bono, speaking on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, noted that "Sonny wanted the term of copyright protection to last forever", but that since she was "informed by staff that such a change would violate the United States Constitution", Congress might consider Jack Valenti proposal of a copyright term of "forever less one day". === Support === Proponents of the Bono Act argue that it is necessary given that the life expectancy of humans has risen dramatically since Congress passed the original Copyright Act of 1790, that a difference in copyright terms between the United States and Europe would negatively affect the international operations of the entertainment industry, and that some works would be created under perpetual copyright that would never be created under time-limited copyright. They also claim that Congress has the power to pass whatever copyright term it wants because the language "To promote the progress of science and useful arts" in the United States Constitution is not a substantive limitation on the powers of Congress, leaving the sole restriction that copyrights must only last for "limited times." However, in respect ''to'' what the "times" granted must be "limited" has never been determined, thus it is argued that even one million years would still be a valid "limited time" under the letter of the Constitution. === Relationship to the European Constitution === In its article II.77.2, the European Constitution contains neither a "limited time" nor a "to promote the progress of science and useful arts" clause. Critics of the EU constitution claim that this is not an oversight, but rather an intentional choice of words, and that soon after its ratification, Europe will get a "perpetual copyright and patents" directive. === Opposition === Opponents of the Bono Act consider the legislation to be little more than corporate welfare and have tried (but failed thus far) to challenge its constitutionality, claiming that such an act is not "necessary and proper" to accomplishing the Constitution's stated purpose of "promot[ing] the progress of science and useful arts". They argue that most works bring most of the profits during the first few years and are pushed off the market by the publishers thereafter. Thus there is little economic incentive in extending the terms of copyrights except for the few owners of franchises that are wildly successful anyway, such as Disney. They also point out that the United States Constitution/Amendment Ten limits the powers that Congress can gain from a treaty. More directly, they see two successive terms of approximately 20 years each (the Copyright Act of 1976 and the Bono Act) as the beginning of a "slippery slope" toward a perpetual copyright term that nullifies the intended effect and violates the spirit of the "for limited times" language of the United States Constitution/Article One, section 8, clause 8. They question the proponents' life expectancy argument, pointing out that the copyright terms under the 1790 act lasted only twenty-eight years total, that life expectancies have not risen threefold since 1790 (ignoring infant mortality, they have increased barely ten years), and that even though terms of patent have not been extended in parallel, patents adequately reward investment in the field with their mere twenty-year term. It has been said that extending copyright terms to "harmonize" with those elsewhere can [http://www.troutworks.com/Joycelog/joycelog.php?joycedate=20030115 involve a "leapfrogging" effect]: two sides repeatedly extend their copyright terms to try and keep up with each other. Opponents also question the proponents' "new works would not be created" argument by pointing out proponents' hidden presumption that the goal is to make the creation of new works possible, whereas the authors of the United States Constitution evidently thought that unnecessary and explicitly restricted the goal to merely "promot[ing] the progress of science and useful arts." In fact, some works created under time-limited copyright would not be created under perpetual copyright because the creator of a distantly derivative work does not have the money to purchase a license from the owner of copyright in the original work, or the individual or privately held owner of copyright in the original work might refuse to license a use at any price (though a refusal to license may trigger a fair use safety valve). One can thus argue that a rich, continually replenished, public domain is necessary for continued artistic creation. For example, the works of William Shakespeare and the Greek myths have been the basis for much of Neil Gaiman's writing, which might well not have been created if they were still under copyright. Recent works that have entered the popular culture, and for which copyright is arguably not appropriate, include the novels that created Frankenstein and Dracula, both originating in the 19th century. Most of the holy writings of major religions are also in the public domain, which allows them to be adapted, translated, paraphrased and otherwise made suitable to modern audiences. If the Roman Catholic Church had a perpetual copyright on the letters of Paul of Tarsus, it could have refused to license them for translation, or for use by other churches. Many of Disney's most famous feature movies have themselves been derivatives of public domain works; for example, their film ''The Jungle Book (1967 movie)'' was created the year after the copyright on the The Jungle Book expired. == Challenges == Publishers and librarians, among others, brought ''Eldred v. Ashcroft'' to obtain an injunction on enforcement of the act. Oral arguments were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on October 9, 2002, and on January 15, 2003, the court held the CTEA constitutional by a 7-2 decision. The plaintiffs in the ''Eldred'' case have as of 2003 begun to shift their effort toward the U.S. Congress in support of a bill called the Public Domain Enhancement Act that would make the provisions of the Bono Act apply only to copyrights that had been registered with the Library of Congress. Other groups practice civil disobedience by violating the act in public. However, these challenges have so far met with little success. == See also == * Copyright * DMCA * Ex post facto law * Intellectual property * MPAA * RIAA * Software Copyright * United States copyright law ==External links== ===Documentation from the United States Government=== *http://www.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/s505.pdf ===Views of Opponents=== *[http://eldred.cc/ The Eric Eldred Act] *http://everything2.com/?node=sonny+bono+copyright+extension+act *http://archive.nytimes.com/2001/04/30/opinion/30LESS.htm *[http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View&c=Article&cid=ZZZNPOYE27C&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0 Litman Decries Overbroad Copyright Protection] and [http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View&c=Article&cid=ZZZXH1L3P8C&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0 Mouse Trapped] by Mike Godwin *[http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20020305_sprigman.html Article in Findlaw's Writ by Chris Sprigman] *[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.10/lessig.html?pg=5 coverage of opposition by attorney] Lawrence Lessig *[http://www.msen.com/~litman/digital-copyright/ ''DIGITAL COPYRIGHT'' by Jessica Litman] *[http://homepages.law.asu.edu/~dkarjala/OpposingCopyrightExtension/ Opposing Copyright Extension] *[http://www.troutworks.com/Joycelog/joycelog.php?joycedate=20030115 Troutgirl weblog: 20030115] Copyright lawUnited States intellectual property law 1998 in law
I removed the following section from the paragraph on the SBCTE proponents' arguments, because it was unsupported and out of place: :They believe that a treaty can give Congress powers not enumerated in the Constitution. --- I'd like to remove or reword the As of 2002 reference, or update it to 2003, but I'm not familiar enough with the current state of the fight against CTEA to do it proper justice. Anyone? User:CatherineMunro --- It would be nice to mention that the "encourages new works to be written" does not make much sense for a retroactive copyright extension...an author who has been dead for 30 years is not going to be writing a lot of new works even if the copyrights last longer. --- Is it really correct to say that "without the act, Mickey Mouse would have entered the public domain"? Surely Mickey Mouse is protected by trademark law, and trademarks only expire if they are not used, so although certain ''films'' would have entered the public domain, the ''characters'' would not have (e.g. it would still have been illegal for Disney's competitors to use Steamboat Willie in advertising)? --- My understanding of the word "retroactive" in a copyright context is if a new law extends the copyrights of works already in existance (as opposed to future works), rather than if it restores copyright on a previously public domain work. --User:Imran 11:09, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC) Agreed. The statement "Unlike European Union copyright extension legislation, the Sonny Bono Act was not retroactive. It did not revive copyrights that had already expired." is incorrect and should be changed. ::The US extension was retroactive in the sense that it postponed the previously set dates when material was scheduled to enter the public domain. The EU extension was also retroactive in the sense that it even revoked the public domain status of some works. Unless anyone objects, I will go ahead and change the text to "Unlike European Union copyright extension legislation, the Sonny Bono Act did not revive copyrights that had already expired." --USer:ABostrom 22:30, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC) ::Two points. Firstly, if there was nothing that was public domain in Europe that was brought back under copyright then the convention was in no way "retroactive" for the purposes of this discussion and that passage should be removed. Secondly, did any of the opponents of passage/proponents of repeal really argue the Tenth Amendment? If so, they were arguing against pretty settled law, decided about eight decades before in ''Missouri v. Holland'' (although the argument can certainly be made that those who argued for Brown in ''Brown v. Board of Education'' were likewise arguing against clearly settled law, so sometimes it pays, but is a lot more apt to in a human rights case than it is in an intellectual property case). User:Rlquall 18:39, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC) :::Further review – if one is to belive the points in some of the links to opponents' material, there are things that had lapsed into public domain in Europe that are now again under copyright (a dangerous doctrine IMO). Of course, the estates of authors whose works have been elevated to the status of "literature" are loving that. Somewhere, maybe just here on the talk page (so if that is sufficient, maybe this will do) it should be noted that Mark Twain faced a problem with copyright piracy pretty much throughout his life. He was a long-time proponent of "life plus fifty", stating before Congress in the early 1900's when this issue was being examined (unsurprisingly, nothing beyond covering the then-new phonograph record was really changed at the time), that a man and his children should be able to live off of the fruits and merits of his works and that his grandchildren should be allowed to fend for themselves, showing that although he was in favor of enhancements beyond the twenty-eight years and one renewal then allowed that he would not likely agree with Bono on "eternity less one day". User:Rlquall 19:29, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC) ::::A final comment (any more and I'd need to start my own blog). There are two precedents in the law for what a "limited period" as proposed to "perpetuity" is. One is from the common law and states that leases must be for a limited period and cannot be perpetual. Hence, the 99 year lease became the longest enforceable lease – a century or more is in essence perpetual and hence impermissible. U.S. Census records are secret for 72 years and then become public to help historians, geneological researchers, and the like. (Meaning that the records of the 1930 census became public in 2002 and those of the 1940 will do so in 2012.) This would imply that a reasonable expectation of privacy has an identifiable end. (The primary motivation at the time that the law passed was likely the fear of identifying someone as "illegitimate"; one supposes the original law's authors assumed that the revelation of illegitimacty in the life of a person who had always been deemed reputable in their 70s would do no life-changing harm to them.) So "forever", more or less, is either more than 72 years or more than 99. I think the fact that 95 is less than 99 is why this period was chosen and that Mickey Mouse will really become "p.d." in 2023, which I surely hope to see. It is certainly hard to justify further extensions on the basis of more motivation for creators. Who is really motivated to create on the basis that one's great-great grandchildren will benefit, let alone one's great-great-great-great grandchildren which one can hardly conceive of, let alone be concerned much for their welfare and especially their finances? User:Rlquall 19:46, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC) :Like the explanation above from User:Abostrom. Please put that in there. User:Rlquall 18:04, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC) == Unclear == Should this sentence from Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act: After the act, copyrights lasted the life of the author, plus seventy years in the case of individual works, or 75 to 95 years in the case of works of corporate authorship and works first published before 1978 January 1. be understood as: '''After the act, copyrights lasted the life of the author, plus seventy years in the case of individual works, or 75 to 95 years ''after publication'' in the case of works of corporate authorship and works first published before 1978 January 1.''' In other words are there two kinds of works, those authored by a person, and those made by a corporation or pseudonymously? Does 70 (not 75) years apply to a work authored by someone on 1977, who dies the same year? -User:Wikibob | User talk:Wikibob 20:04, 2005 Mar 28 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Sonny_Bono_Copyright_Term_Extension_Act:
Sonny_Bono_Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
Sonny_Bono_Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended United States copyright law terms in the United States by 20 years. Before the act, an author's Copyright would last until fifty years after his death. After the act, an author's copyright would last until seventy years after his death, while copyrights for works of corporate authorship would last 75 to 95 years. The act also affected copyright terms for copyrighted works published prior to January 1, 1978, increasing their term of protection by 20 years as well. This effectively 'froze' the advancement date of the public domain in the United States for works covered by the older fixed term copyright rules. Under this act, no additional works made in 1923 or after, that were still copyrighted in 1998, will enter the public domain until 2019. Unlike copyright extension legislation in the European Union, the Sonny Bono Act did not revive copyrights that had already expired. However, the act did extend the terms of protection set for works that were already copyrighted, and is retroactive in that sense. == Background == Under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the signatory states are required to provide copyright protection for a minimum term of the life of the author plus fifty years, but they are permitted to provide for a longer term of protection, and between 1993 and 1996 the European Union provided protection for a term of the author's life plus seventy years (see Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection). The United States did not become a Berne signatory until 1988, but had previously provided for the minimum copyright term the convention required in the Copyright Act of 1976. Prior to the 1976 copyright act, many copyrighted literature, film, and fictional characters were soon to pass into the public domain due to their 56-year maximum copyright terms. Some of these copyrighted items remained quite profitable for their copyright owners, including several characters owned by the Walt Disney Company. With the passage of the 1976 copyright act, Mickey Mouse, along with early animation short film such as ''Steamboat Willie'' and ''Plane Crazy'', would not enter the public domain until 2000 at the earliest due to their new 75-year copyright terms. In several countries (e.g. in Russia, where the Berne convention was not applied retroactively) Mickey Mouse and all other copyrighted works created before 1970 are now in the public domain. After the United States' accession to the Berne convention, a number of copyright owners successfully lobbying the Congress of the United States for another extension of the term of copyright, to provide for the same term of protection that exists in Europe. The act was named after the late Congressman, Sonny Bono, who had favored this position as a songwriter and filmmaker even prior to his entry into politics. Both houses of the United States Congress passed the act as Public Law 105-298 with a voice vote, making it impossible to determine who voted for or against. President Bill Clinton signed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 on October 21, 1998. As a consequence of the act, under current law, no copyrighted works will enter into the public domain in the United States until January 1, 2019 at the earliest, when the copyright on works created in 1923 would expire. == Political Climate == In addition to Walt Disney Company (whose extensive lobbying efforts inspired the nickname "The Mickey Mouse Protection Act"), Mary Bono (Sonny Bono's widow and Congressional successor) and the estate of George Gershwin supported the act. Mary Bono, speaking on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, noted that "Sonny wanted the term of copyright protection to last forever", but that since she was "informed by staff that such a change would violate the United States Constitution", Congress might consider Jack Valenti proposal of a copyright term of "forever less one day". === Support === Proponents of the Bono Act argue that it is necessary given that the life expectancy of humans has risen dramatically since Congress passed the original Copyright Act of 1790, that a difference in copyright terms between the United States and Europe would negatively affect the international operations of the entertainment industry, and that some works would be created under perpetual copyright that would never be created under time-limited copyright. They also claim that Congress has the power to pass whatever copyright term it wants because the language "To promote the progress of science and useful arts" in the United States Constitution is not a substantive limitation on the powers of Congress, leaving the sole restriction that copyrights must only last for "limited times." However, in respect ''to'' what the "times" granted must be "limited" has never been determined, thus it is argued that even one million years would still be a valid "limited time" under the letter of the Constitution. === Relationship to the European Constitution === In its article II.77.2, the European Constitution contains neither a "limited time" nor a "to promote the progress of science and useful arts" clause. Critics of the EU constitution claim that this is not an oversight, but rather an intentional choice of words, and that soon after its ratification, Europe will get a "perpetual copyright and patents" directive. === Opposition === Opponents of the Bono Act consider the legislation to be little more than corporate welfare and have tried (but failed thus far) to challenge its constitutionality, claiming that such an act is not "necessary and proper" to accomplishing the Constitution's stated purpose of "promot[ing] the progress of science and useful arts". They argue that most works bring most of the profits during the first few years and are pushed off the market by the publishers thereafter. Thus there is little economic incentive in extending the terms of copyrights except for the few owners of franchises that are wildly successful anyway, such as Disney. They also point out that the United States Constitution/Amendment Ten limits the powers that Congress can gain from a treaty. More directly, they see two successive terms of approximately 20 years each (the Copyright Act of 1976 and the Bono Act) as the beginning of a "slippery slope" toward a perpetual copyright term that nullifies the intended effect and violates the spirit of the "for limited times" language of the United States Constitution/Article One, section 8, clause 8. They question the proponents' life expectancy argument, pointing out that the copyright terms under the 1790 act lasted only twenty-eight years total, that life expectancies have not risen threefold since 1790 (ignoring infant mortality, they have increased barely ten years), and that even though terms of patent have not been extended in parallel, patents adequately reward investment in the field with their mere twenty-year term. It has been said that extending copyright terms to "harmonize" with those elsewhere can [http://www.troutworks.com/Joycelog/joycelog.php?joycedate=20030115 involve a "leapfrogging" effect]: two sides repeatedly extend their copyright terms to try and keep up with each other. Opponents also question the proponents' "new works would not be created" argument by pointing out proponents' hidden presumption that the goal is to make the creation of new works possible, whereas the authors of the United States Constitution evidently thought that unnecessary and explicitly restricted the goal to merely "promot[ing] the progress of science and useful arts." In fact, some works created under time-limited copyright would not be created under perpetual copyright because the creator of a distantly derivative work does not have the money to purchase a license from the owner of copyright in the original work, or the individual or privately held owner of copyright in the original work might refuse to license a use at any price (though a refusal to license may trigger a fair use safety valve). One can thus argue that a rich, continually replenished, public domain is necessary for continued artistic creation. For example, the works of William Shakespeare and the Greek myths have been the basis for much of Neil Gaiman's writing, which might well not have been created if they were still under copyright. Recent works that have entered the popular culture, and for which copyright is arguably not appropriate, include the novels that created Frankenstein and Dracula, both originating in the 19th century. Most of the holy writings of major religions are also in the public domain, which allows them to be adapted, translated, paraphrased and otherwise made suitable to modern audiences. If the Roman Catholic Church had a perpetual copyright on the letters of Paul of Tarsus, it could have refused to license them for translation, or for use by other churches. Many of Disney's most famous feature movies have themselves been derivatives of public domain works; for example, their film ''The Jungle Book (1967 movie)'' was created the year after the copyright on the The Jungle Book expired. == Challenges == Publishers and librarians, among others, brought ''Eldred v. Ashcroft'' to obtain an injunction on enforcement of the act. Oral arguments were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on October 9, 2002, and on January 15, 2003, the court held the CTEA constitutional by a 7-2 decision. The plaintiffs in the ''Eldred'' case have as of 2003 begun to shift their effort toward the U.S. Congress in support of a bill called the Public Domain Enhancement Act that would make the provisions of the Bono Act apply only to copyrights that had been registered with the Library of Congress. Other groups practice civil disobedience by violating the act in public. However, these challenges have so far met with little success. == See also == * Copyright * DMCA * Ex post facto law * Intellectual property * MPAA * RIAA * Software Copyright * United States copyright law ==External links== ===Documentation from the United States Government=== *http://www.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/s505.pdf ===Views of Opponents=== *[http://eldred.cc/ The Eric Eldred Act] *http://everything2.com/?node=sonny+bono+copyright+extension+act *http://archive.nytimes.com/2001/04/30/opinion/30LESS.htm *[http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View&c=Article&cid=ZZZNPOYE27C&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0 Litman Decries Overbroad Copyright Protection] and [http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View&c=Article&cid=ZZZXH1L3P8C&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0 Mouse Trapped] by Mike Godwin *[http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20020305_sprigman.html Article in Findlaw's Writ by Chris Sprigman] *[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.10/lessig.html?pg=5 coverage of opposition by attorney] Lawrence Lessig *[http://www.msen.com/~litman/digital-copyright/ ''DIGITAL COPYRIGHT'' by Jessica Litman] *[http://homepages.law.asu.edu/~dkarjala/OpposingCopyrightExtension/ Opposing Copyright Extension] *[http://www.troutworks.com/Joycelog/joycelog.php?joycedate=20030115 Troutgirl weblog: 20030115] Copyright lawUnited States intellectual property law 1998 in law
Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
I removed the following section from the paragraph on the SBCTE proponents' arguments, because it was unsupported and out of place: :They believe that a treaty can give Congress powers not enumerated in the Constitution. --- I'd like to remove or reword the As of 2002 reference, or update it to 2003, but I'm not familiar enough with the current state of the fight against CTEA to do it proper justice. Anyone? User:CatherineMunro --- It would be nice to mention that the "encourages new works to be written" does not make much sense for a retroactive copyright extension...an author who has been dead for 30 years is not going to be writing a lot of new works even if the copyrights last longer. --- Is it really correct to say that "without the act, Mickey Mouse would have entered the public domain"? Surely Mickey Mouse is protected by trademark law, and trademarks only expire if they are not used, so although certain ''films'' would have entered the public domain, the ''characters'' would not have (e.g. it would still have been illegal for Disney's competitors to use Steamboat Willie in advertising)? --- My understanding of the word "retroactive" in a copyright context is if a new law extends the copyrights of works already in existance (as opposed to future works), rather than if it restores copyright on a previously public domain work. --User:Imran 11:09, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC) Agreed. The statement "Unlike European Union copyright extension legislation, the Sonny Bono Act was not retroactive. It did not revive copyrights that had already expired." is incorrect and should be changed. ::The US extension was retroactive in the sense that it postponed the previously set dates when material was scheduled to enter the public domain. The EU extension was also retroactive in the sense that it even revoked the public domain status of some works. Unless anyone objects, I will go ahead and change the text to "Unlike European Union copyright extension legislation, the Sonny Bono Act did not revive copyrights that had already expired." --USer:ABostrom 22:30, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC) ::Two points. Firstly, if there was nothing that was public domain in Europe that was brought back under copyright then the convention was in no way "retroactive" for the purposes of this discussion and that passage should be removed. Secondly, did any of the opponents of passage/proponents of repeal really argue the Tenth Amendment? If so, they were arguing against pretty settled law, decided about eight decades before in ''Missouri v. Holland'' (although the argument can certainly be made that those who argued for Brown in ''Brown v. Board of Education'' were likewise arguing against clearly settled law, so sometimes it pays, but is a lot more apt to in a human rights case than it is in an intellectual property case). User:Rlquall 18:39, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC) :::Further review – if one is to belive the points in some of the links to opponents' material, there are things that had lapsed into public domain in Europe that are now again under copyright (a dangerous doctrine IMO). Of course, the estates of authors whose works have been elevated to the status of "literature" are loving that. Somewhere, maybe just here on the talk page (so if that is sufficient, maybe this will do) it should be noted that Mark Twain faced a problem with copyright piracy pretty much throughout his life. He was a long-time proponent of "life plus fifty", stating before Congress in the early 1900's when this issue was being examined (unsurprisingly, nothing beyond covering the then-new phonograph record was really changed at the time), that a man and his children should be able to live off of the fruits and merits of his works and that his grandchildren should be allowed to fend for themselves, showing that although he was in favor of enhancements beyond the twenty-eight years and one renewal then allowed that he would not likely agree with Bono on "eternity less one day". User:Rlquall 19:29, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC) ::::A final comment (any more and I'd need to start my own blog). There are two precedents in the law for what a "limited period" as proposed to "perpetuity" is. One is from the common law and states that leases must be for a limited period and cannot be perpetual. Hence, the 99 year lease became the longest enforceable lease – a century or more is in essence perpetual and hence impermissible. U.S. Census records are secret for 72 years and then become public to help historians, geneological researchers, and the like. (Meaning that the records of the 1930 census became public in 2002 and those of the 1940 will do so in 2012.) This would imply that a reasonable expectation of privacy has an identifiable end. (The primary motivation at the time that the law passed was likely the fear of identifying someone as "illegitimate"; one supposes the original law's authors assumed that the revelation of illegitimacty in the life of a person who had always been deemed reputable in their 70s would do no life-changing harm to them.) So "forever", more or less, is either more than 72 years or more than 99. I think the fact that 95 is less than 99 is why this period was chosen and that Mickey Mouse will really become "p.d." in 2023, which I surely hope to see. It is certainly hard to justify further extensions on the basis of more motivation for creators. Who is really motivated to create on the basis that one's great-great grandchildren will benefit, let alone one's great-great-great-great grandchildren which one can hardly conceive of, let alone be concerned much for their welfare and especially their finances? User:Rlquall 19:46, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC) :Like the explanation above from User:Abostrom. Please put that in there. User:Rlquall 18:04, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC) == Unclear == Should this sentence from Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act: After the act, copyrights lasted the life of the author, plus seventy years in the case of individual works, or 75 to 95 years in the case of works of corporate authorship and works first published before 1978 January 1. be understood as: '''After the act, copyrights lasted the life of the author, plus seventy years in the case of individual works, or 75 to 95 years ''after publication'' in the case of works of corporate authorship and works first published before 1978 January 1.''' In other words are there two kinds of works, those authored by a person, and those made by a corporation or pseudonymously? Does 70 (not 75) years apply to a work authored by someone on 1977, who dies the same year? -User:Wikibob | User talk:Wikibob 20:04, 2005 Mar 28 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
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