SOPA, PIPA, and Mickey

I love to read original laws, especially those offered by the first few congresses. This tells you just how crazy our laws have gotten with intellectual property. The original congress thought it was reasonable to secure rights to the creator of writings or discoveries for 14 years, with a one-time renewal within six months of the first term expiring. Now, it's 95 years in some cases (thank you Disney and Sonny Bono).

Here is a link to the original Copyright Act of 1790.

http://www.copyright.gov/history/1790act.pdf

See, the problem at the core of the proposed SOPA and PIPA laws is the length of time they secure intellectual rights for their owners/creators, how long these works are held OUT of the public domain.

The Constitutional Convention had a good reason for securing these rights for a term, but not forever. James Madison explained it best in Federalist 43. His explanation seems reasonable to me.

http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa43.htm

Now, about Mickey Mouse. The first time we saw Mickey Mouse on film was in 1928. Under the Copyright Act of 1790, assuming Disney paid its $0.60 for one renewal, this character would have been in the public domain in 1956. Under the most recent act, he remains the property of Disney until 2023. That's 11 years away. Who wants to bet Congress will extent that term of ownership under a new copyright for, oh say 150 years, between now and then? Clearly based on what Mr. Madison wrote, the Constitution's Article 1, Section 8 was never intended to allow for a 95-year term, let alone something onerously longer.

It's time to free the creative spirit and let others benefit from earlier works, to, as the Constitution directs, promote the progress of science and useful arts. It is time to free that creative spirit even if that includes something as seemingly superfluous as the gold-mine character of Mickey Mouse.


--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.

The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.

The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.