Kurt Jansson wrote:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/eldred/petition.html

Everybody who has ever uploaded a public domain image or used the old Britannica should put Wikipedia in the "Something I Created Using Public Domain" field.

"We, the undersigned, while believing in the importance of copyright, [...]"

I'm afraid that I can't sign that petition. ^_^

-- Toby

wow, over 12,000 signatures!

jansson@gmx.net wrote:

"jansson@gmx.net" sends you the enclosed page from one of the Artifice web sites:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/eldred/petition.html

**    **    **

Personal comments from "jansson@":

Everybody who has ever uploaded a puplic domain image or used the old Britannica should put Wikipedia in the "Something I Created Using Public Domain" field.

Kurt

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http://www.PetitionOnline.com/petition.html

*Reclaim the Public Domain*

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View Current Signatures http://www.PetitionOnline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?eldred - Sign the Petition <petition-sign.html>

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To:  Members of the United States Congress

We, the undersigned, while believing in the importance of copyright,
also believe in the importance of the public domain. We believe the
public domain is crucial to the spread of knowledge and culture, and
crucial in assuring access to our past. We therefore write to
petition you to reconsider major changes that you have made to the
copyright system. These changes unnecessarily threaten the public
domain without any corresponding benefit to copyright holders.

In 1998, Congress passed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
(CTEA). That Act extended the term of all existing copyrights by 20
years. But as Justice Breyer calculated, only 2% of the work
copyrighted during the initial 20 years affected by this statute has
any continuing commercial value at all. The balance has disappeared
from the commercial marketplace, and, we fear, could disappear from
our culture generally.

For example: The vast majority of film created during the 1920s and
1930s is not commercially available. Because of the CTEA, much of it
remains under copyright. Yet because it is often impossible to track
down the copyright owners for these films, commercial and
noncommercial preservationist and distributors cannot safely restore
and distribute these films. And because these films were made from
nitrate-based stock, by the time the copyright to these films
expire, most of them will have dissolved.

The same is true with many other copyrighted works that are no
longer commercially available. Though the Internet could facilitate
the distribution of this work if the copyright owners could be
identified, the costs of locating these copyright owners is wildly
prohibitive. Schools and libraries are thus denied access to works
that otherwise could be made available at a very low cost.

Such burdens on access to work that has no continuing commercial
value serves no legitimate copyright purpose. It certainly does not
"promote the Progress of Science" as the Constitution requires. We
therefore ask Congress to consider changes to the current regime
that would free unused content from continued regulation, while
respecting the rights of existing copyright owners.

One solution in particular that we ask Congress to consider is the
Public Domain Enhancement Act. See http://eldred.cc
<http://eldred.cc> This statute would require American copyright
owners to pay a very low fee (for example, $1) fifty years after a
copyrighted work was published. If the owner pays the fee, the
copyright will continue for whatever duration Congress sets. But if
the copyright is not worth even $1 to the owner, then we believe the
work should pass into the public domain.

This legislation would strengthen the public domain without
burdening copyright owners. It would also help clarify rights over
copyrighted material, which in turn would enable reuse of that
material. The law could thus help restore balance to the protection
of copyright, and support the public domain.

We therefore call upon Congress to introduce this legislation, and
to hold hearings on the benefits that it might have to reviving a
vibrant public domain.

When technologists have given us a tool that could spread knowledge
universally, we should not allow the law to get in the way. The law
does so now. This Congress should change it.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned
<http://www.PetitionOnline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?eldred>

View Current Signatures http://www.PetitionOnline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?eldred

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