The Copyright Office Belongs in a Library
This only highlights how the intention of copyright as put forth by the framers has been distorted through the lens of business. Book publishers thought libraries might be a threat to the "modern" publishing industry in the 1800s, just like the movie studios thought home video would kill movies. They were incorrect on both counts, however with the ease and low cost of digital copies, there actually IS a great deal of money to be made without actually doing more work by perpetuating the endless copyright. Given how money focused politicians are, and how much influence business plays with them, its not a difficult argument to make, especially when the argument is money versus the betterment of society and future creativity. One is easily measured now, the other is not easily measured, and only pays off on the scale of decades.<p>Disney took public domain stories, and made billions by creating their own versions, and now seek to prevent others from doing the same. The estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who died 85 years ago this month) found only partial relief in the extension of the money machine, with stories and characters before 1923 now in the public domain, and stories after 1923 still under copyright 92 years later! Sherlock has become a huge influence not just in other creative works, but derivative works such as TV shows and movies that pay no royalty to the Doyle estate. Doyle himself was influence by other authors, such as Poe, as well as real people.<p>The intent of copyright was to give limited protection to the creators of creative works, because while society as a whole benefits from the arts, it can only occur if there is a benefit to the creators. So we gave them a limited monopoly, just like patents, to enjoy the fruits of their labors before they became part of society as a whole. Few artists want to create works that only a select few can enjoy, however the financial interest is in doing just that. Just as software patents threaten our industry (and patent abuse on the whole threatens many industries), copyright abuse threatens the enrichment of society as a whole. We do not own our children, we only raise them for a while and unleash them into the world. The same is true with art. That is the way it was meant to be.