Re: [dvd-discuss] Public Domain Enhancement Bill

["Roy Murphy" <murphy(at)panix.com>]

'twas brillig when Kurt Hockenbury scrobe:
>  If Disney were really smart, they would support it.  Not for brownie
>  points, but for more public domain to pull from.

There's a big downside to this bill for copyright holders which would
preclude Disney or any other media company from signing on.

The Berne Convention has recriprocal copyright terms. US works are
protected in Berne countries only as long as the US protects the works
of those countries *without formalities*. If 50 years is all you get
without formalities, then 50 years is all US works will get protection
for under Berne. Thus a copyright renewal will only buy you protection
in the US. It buys no protection anywhere else.


Roy Murphy        CSpice: A Mailing List for Clergy Spouses
murphy@panix.com   http://www.panix.com/~murphy/CSpice.html