Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Danger of the Public Domain
One very interesting thing that I learned today from Mr. Hardin is about the Sony Bono Act. Former pop singer and Congressman pushed a bill that extended the length of copyright laws. Originally laws extended 50 years after the death of the author; however, the Sony Bono act extended this law for an additional 20 years. Sony Bono was a Congressman from the district in California that included Disney World. Around this time, Walt Disney had been dead for nearly 50 years and all the Disney characters would have been entering the public domain soon. This was a serious issue for the Disney Corporation because once Disney characters enter the public domain they are no longer protected by copyright laws and are accessible for other people. In 2018 Disney will again be in a bind with copyright laws. The question was raised in class wondering what will happen to our beloved Disney characters. Will Mickey Mouse and Tinker Bell lose their protection under copyright laws? Should Disney fight to extend copyright laws even further? I personally believe that based on this example it might be best to simply protect an authors work forever. I couldn’t imagine seeing my favorite Disney princesses being misused or recreated inappropriately.
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I completely agree with you that Facebook should not be used for the job selection process. As an athlelte, we are warned that during recruiting, we have to be careful about what we post online because coaches will look at it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's funny Maddy posted her comment on the wrong post :)
ReplyDeleteBut great blog, and great point. You're not the only one that is worried about the Disney characters apparently (as I've been reading other blogs). I'm curious to see what will happen.