[dvd-discuss]Long Term Copyright just invites lawsuits

[microlenz(at)earthlink.net]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/03/film.welles.reut/index.html

HOLLYWOOD, California (Variety) -- Beatrice Welles, the daughter of
 Orson Welles, has filed a lawsuit claiming she is the owner of the rights
 to film classic "Citizen Kane." 

THe film was make over 60 yrs ago. Papa is Dead. Papa may not have known just 
what copyright he had or didn't but now it's gonna be litigated. The purpose of 
a short copyright term is not only to promote progress but to flush out of the 
legal system disputes ranging back into previous and even before that 
generations. Hey...maybe copyright is the battlefield of the Martins and McCoys 
(an Eastern Tennessee Folk song about the blood feuds in the Catskills and 
Smokey Mountains)..going on for generations..

Ironically this may be another posterchild for shortening copyright...after 60 
yrs even the original contracts may be dust.