I think one reason why many people are upset at Disney over copyright is
they they themselves have reaped much from the public domain---Snow White,
Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan but
*none* of their works have in turned, been returned to the public domain to
enrich the culture.
Even "Steamboat Willie," the first work to (maybe) hit the public domain,
was itself a copyright violation of a movie called "Steamboat Bill" (and the
original script for "Steamboat Willie" even makes mention of "Steamboat
Bill"). It's this hypocracy that is so upsetting.
I have nothing against copyright, but I do have a problem with how it is
currently being handled. Life of the author *plus* 70 years? 95 years for
a work for hire? Technically that is a "limited time" but then again, so is
"a million years" and Congress has the authority to do such a thing (from
the recent decision in the Eldred vs. Ashcroft case).
If this keeps up, then we might find ourselves in a situation described in
"Melancholy Elephants" by Spider Robinson:
http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200011/0671319744___1.htm
-spc (And I find it odd that Disney has contributed campaign funds to
Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina---since when has the Disney
Corporation lived in South Carolina? Unless it's for other,
legislative reasons ... )
Received on Fri Jan 17 2003 - 13:48:00 GMT