The description of these films and their value reads like a word for word explanation of why we have the public domain. The author described Warner Bros as the

The description of these films and their value reads like a word for word explanation of why we have the public domain. The author described Warner Bros as the "Gold standard" - making re-releases on protected media one at a time, just in time to extend their copyright. No, the gold standard is the Library of Congress, digitizing thousands of Edison wax cylinders and putting them online for researchers, artists and curious people to use for free. The gold standard is allowing people to see and hear and reuse what these great artists created, because it's undeniably a part of our cultural heritage. Almost a hundred years later, and the third party inheritor of the rights is drip feeding paid access to the world. "Gold standard" indeed.