!@!Re: [Upd-discuss] a longer term strategy for promoting the public domain?

[David Basskin]

On Aug 24, 2004, at 12:50 PM, Michael Hart wrote:

>
> On Mon, 23 Aug 2004, Lars Aronsson wrote:
>
>> Michael Hart wrote:
>>> I would write a letter to every government in the entire world,
>>> asking if there is a home for shorter copyrights to counteract
>>> the longer copyrights being imposed by WIPO et al on the rest
>>> of the world. . .perhaps suggesting a home for the public domain.
>>
>> Sorry, I didn't understand what you meant here.  Could you explain
>> again what the question to those governments would be?
>
> The basic question would be:
>
> "Is there a possible home for the public domain in your country?"
>
> Or for a public domain center. . .virtual or bricks and mortar.
>
>
>> I think that we could do more digging into the 1923-1953 era.  Some
>> authors who died in this period might have noone left to defend their
>> extended copyrights, which means we could get away with digitizing
>> their works before those 70 years have passed.  This is on the edge of
>> taking a risk, which I know PG's experts would advise against.
>
> Actually we are doing massive work to establish a record of which
> copyrights were not renewed. . .this would eliminate most risks.

It might eliminate risks in the United States, the only territory which 
had a regime of copyright renewal. Canada, for instance, has never had 
a regime of copyright renewal. It's always been life of the author plus 
50 years. Likewise for most other territories.

Hello, Americans! "We Are The World" is just the name of a song.

David Basskin