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More on Orphaned Works: "Significant among those changes were the elimination of the registration and notice requirements, which resulted in less accurate and

More on Orphaned Works: "Significant among those changes were the elimination of the registration and notice requirements, which resulted in less accurate and incomplete identifying information on works, and the automatic renewal of copyrighted works that were registered before the effective date of the 1976 Copyright Act." [0] Bringing back registration and ending automatic renewals would do a lot of good. (Adding a fee would be better.) Has there been any work on laws to do this? [0] http://copyright.gov/orphan/reports/orphan-works2015.pdf http://copyright.gov/orphan/reports/orphan-works2015.pdf

eigenman 11y ago
The problem is the Berne convention explicitly forbids requiring registration for a work to enjoy the benefits of copyright. The USA ratified this convention in 1989. However, I agree with you. There needs to be some mechanism pushing back on copyright holders encouraging them to let their works revert to the public domain. A nominal fee at regular intervals would go a long way to encouraging this. However, perhaps something more aggressive is needed. Since the advocates of increased copyright duration often phrase their argument in terms of "intellectual property", perhaps a copyright property tax would be more appropriate. "OK Disney, you can keep the mouse out of the public domain, but that will be $50M/yr."
- bufordsharkley 11y ago
  Thanks for this pointer. At this juncture, it certainly seems that the US shouldn't have caved to signing Berne. We made it 100 years, why didn't we stick it out? Well, commendations to Zoe Lofgren (representing San Jose) at attempting to renew U.S. copyright formalities. [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_formalities#Renewed_interest_in_formalities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_formalities#Renewed_... EDIT: It appears she hasn't pushed ahead copyright formalities (in the form of the Eldred Act) much since 2005. Here's hoping something new comes up...

eigenman 11y ago

The problem is the Berne convention explicitly forbids requiring registration for a work to enjoy the benefits of copyright. The USA ratified this convention in 1989. However, I agree with you. There needs to be some mechanism pushing back on copyright holders encouraging them to let their works revert to the public domain. A nominal fee at regular intervals would go a long way to encouraging this. However, perhaps something more aggressive is needed. Since the advocates of increased copyright duration often phrase their argument in terms of "intellectual property", perhaps a copyright property tax would be more appropriate. "OK Disney, you can keep the mouse out of the public domain, but that will be $50M/yr."

bufordsharkley 11y ago
Thanks for this pointer. At this juncture, it certainly seems that the US shouldn't have caved to signing Berne. We made it 100 years, why didn't we stick it out? Well, commendations to Zoe Lofgren (representing San Jose) at attempting to renew U.S. copyright formalities. [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_formalities#Renewed_interest_in_formalities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_formalities#Renewed_... EDIT: It appears she hasn't pushed ahead copyright formalities (in the form of the Eldred Act) much since 2005. Here's hoping something new comes up...