Dear Zeropaid readers,
this is Erik Möller. We may have lost a battle, but we can still win the war. In Eldred v.
Ashcroft, the United States Supreme Court decided that the “limited
times” clause in the US constitution should not be taken too literally.
Copyright is now, for all practical purposes, perpetual. Perhaps, if a
prolific young writer of your childhood died in a tragic accident
immediately after writing his first book, you might actually witness the
release of a “contemporary” work into the public domain: copyright is
“life of the author plus 70 years”.
Everyone except for lobbyists and corrupt congress-critters understands
that this is insane. This is therefore an excellent cause to rally
around and to test our political power. This is something that we can
actually agree to change! No matter where we stand on copyright per
se, no matter where we live, we should all join forces and fight
insane copyright terms, world-wide.
To this end, with Larry Lessig’s approval, we have created the
So what can we actually do? Plenty! Here are some ideas:
- Contact politicians. Make them aware of the issue. Let
them know that there are people who care about the public domain. Try to
locate potential friends — local politicians who might become later
allies, national ones who already are (in the US, Rick Boucher and ..
well, maybe we can find more than just Rick Boucher).
- Draft legislation. I see no reason why the OpenLaw process
which was used in Eldred v. Ashcroft should not be used in the
development of alternative legislation. We need to agree on a proposal
that finds the correct balance between realism and idealism. Once we
have sorted out the options, we will vote on one and rally behind it.
Should terms simply be shorter, if so, by how much? Should copyright be
extensible by holders like trademarks, so that corporations like Disney
can preserve their precious “property” against hard cash, but the larger
body of works goes into the public domain much sooner? Should there be
different classes of public domain at different stages? We need to keep
the internationality of copyright in mind here: WIPO should be one of
our lobbying targets.
- Educate. We need to carry the message to the general
population. We should collaboratively write a “Public Domain Manifesto”
and circulate it massively. We should create cool comics and posters and
distribute them wherever we can. Publicity events like the proposed
Mickey Mouse Release Day (needs to be planned well!) should help us get
attention.
- Protest. Street protests have been fairly effective in the
Sklyarov case. If we can find common days and locations (e.g. specific
corporations, seats of power) to protest, we will eventually get heard.
- Boycott. Let Disney and the others know that we’re not
willing to take it anymore. List their products and stop buying them,
tell others to do the same. “Disney doesn’t want your children to read!”
Protest with your wallets.
- Collect funding. We need to collect financial support for our
public domain efforts specifically. Perhaps the EFF can create a special
fund for that purpose, perhaps we need to set up our own (keep in mind
that this is an international, not just an American effort!). We can use
this money for all of the above and more.
I’m sure we will think of more. This is a call to action – join
mailing list now. Let’s create a new renaissance. Let’s save the
public domain!
Yours,
Erik
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