US Copyright Term Extensions Have Stopped, But the Public Domain Still Faces Threats; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), January 16, 2023

MITCH STOLTZ, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) ; US Copyright Term Extensions Have Stopped, But the Public Domain Still Faces Threats

"We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, and addressing what's at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation...

Copyright terms remain far too long. It will be nearly two decades before a filmmaker making a documentary about the World War II era can use music recordings from the period without facing what the Recording Industry Association of America and other music industry groups have called a “staggeringly complex” licensing process—or else risking massive and unpredictable statutory damages in a copyright suit.

Rather than preserving culture, long and complicated copyright terms keep us from our history. And that cannot be what copyright was meant to do."

Mickey Mouse and Batman will soon be public domain—here’s what that means; Ars Technica, January 1, 2019

Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica; Mickey Mouse and Batman will soon be public domain—here’s what that means

"Until recently, I assumed that the same interest groups would try to extend copyright terms again in 2018. But the political climate for copyright legislation has changed radically over the last 20 years.

A year ago, Ars Technica broke the news that three of the nation's most powerful rights holder groups in the country, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the Authors Guild, were not even going to try to pass legislation extending copyrights.

"It's not something we are pursuing," an RIAA spokesman told me.

The reason was simple, Grimmelmann argues: they knew they weren't going to win."

Frankenstein TV: what happens when literary classics drop out of copyright; Guardian, 11/16/15

Mark Lawson, Guardian; Frankenstein TV: what happens when literary classics drop out of copyright:

"One reason that the field of Brit Lit spin-offs is becoming so crowded is that Mary Shelley, Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson invented archetypes and situations that are familiar even to people who have never read the books. This rapid name-recognition is presumably why Fox originally gave its planned drama about a dead cop who is brought back to life to solve mysteries the title Frankenstein, even though it has no more than a vague metaphorical connection with the Shelley story. After objections of literary grave-robbing, the series is now, more sensibly, called Second Chance.

In tight financial times, it is also financially canny to plunder the vaults of out-of-copyright books. Adapt a classic novel that is still controlled by an estate and the budget is swollen by a rights fee, with the additional risk that the keepers of the author’s flame may also interfere artistically. Some copyright holders have been so acquisitive or restrictive that, for a decade or so, cultural democrats in various countries have celebrated Public Domain Day on 1 January each year, the date on which literary copyrights cease, 70 years after the writer’s death in many territories, but 95 in America. TV producers, you suspect, are among those whooping most exuberantly as another crop of plots and protagonists become free."

Dealing fairly with freelances; Guardian, 10/11/12

Guardian; Dealing fairly with freelances: "Designed to balance the rights of individual freelances with the needs of GNM as an international, multi-platform media concern, the charter initiative stemmed mainly from the longstanding desire of GNM to achieve the highest possible ethical standards in its dealings with contributors, for example by standardising GNM commissioning practice, settling the thorny issue of copyright ownership, and improving payment times to contributors. To emphasise GNM's openness in its freelance relations, the charter is a public document available on our website. It sets out in a detailed but understandable way the terms and conditions under which GNM engages freelances, including the commissioning process, minimum fees, payment terms, rejected work, expenses policy, ethical considerations, etc. Importantly, the charter also outlines our standard copyright terms. In the majority of cases, freelances retain the copyright in their contribution and grant GNM a clearly-defined licence that enables it to undertake its publishing and commercial activities."

Gershwin Shows’ Tonys Fuel Plans for a Musical; New York Times, 6/14/12

Patrick Healy, New York Times; Gershwin Shows’ Tonys Fuel Plans for a Musical:

"Over the last year the trustees — mostly nephews and grandnephews of George and Ira — have been called greedy, unsophisticated and insensitive to the artistic integrity of the brothers’ work: essentially, that they were cashing in on the music before their copyrights expired. While the famous opera songs from “Porgy and Bess” will be available in the public domain in about two decades, the musical version of “Porgy and Bess” is its own licensable property that can generate income for Gershwin relatives for decades, as will the separate license for the other new Gershwin songbook musical on Broadway, “Nice Work if You Can Get It.”"

Art Is Long; Copyrights Can Even Be Longer; New York Times, 4/24/12

Patricia Cohen, New York Times; Art Is Long; Copyrights Can Even Be Longer: "Artists’ copyright is frequently misunderstood. Even if a painting (or drawing or photograph) has been sold to a collector or a museum, in general, the artist or his heirs retain control of the original image for 70 years after the artist’s death. Think of a novel. You may own a book, but you don’t own the writer’s words; they remain the intellectual property of the author for a time. So while MoMA owns the actual canvas of “Les Demoiselles,” the family of Picasso, who died in 1973, still owns the image. And under existing law, the estate will continue to own the copyright until 2043. If someone wants to reproduce the painting — on a Web site, a calendar, a T-shirt, or in a film — it is the estate that must give its permission, not the museum. That is why, despite the expansion, Google Art Project still does not contain a single Picasso."