Researcher: Optimal copyright term is 14 years

To my knowledge, copyright is currently for the life of the creator plus 70 years (it used to be 50 years here in Australia until we signed the (un)Free Trade Agreement with the US who proceeded to export their copyright laws as well as DMCA equivalents to us post haste). Originally, copyright was designed to be for only a limited time, just long enough for the creator to realise some financial benefit before the work returned to the public.

Once corporations got their hands on, and in the ears of, lawmakers, this basic copyright protection has been extended and extended to where it has reached a point of ludicrousness. What possible good does it do to a society to have creative works locked away from other creative people for so long?

But I'm rambling. Lawrence Lessig is much better at explaining copyright issues than I could ever hope to do so, so venture here for a better idea of what I'm babbling on about.

I saw on Ars Technica today that an economist has determined that the optimal copyright term is 14 years. The fact that it roughly matches the originally intention of copyright law makes me a little suspicious that it has been the result of backwards reasoning - come to a conclusion and then work out the reasoning later. However, I find it difficult to fault the arguments he makes (those parts I understand at least).

Rather than have me butcher it, I encourage you to read it for yourself [PDF] and draw your own conclusions.

Orphaned works - a presentation by Lawrence Lessig

Fascinating presentation given by Prof Lawrence Lessig on how current US copyright laws are failing "orphaned works". The presentation is part of a planned series on internet policy and what the good Professor thinks the US Government should do/be doing.

I'm not an expert on American law but the current state of American copyright bothers me because, since the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement, it often looks like Australia agreed to import American copyright law on a grand scale. I don't like that idea. The more I learn about US copyright from presentations like this, the less I like the idea that Australia citizens had their rights to a sane and workable copyright system signed away with so little to show in return.

As an aside, this is a sterling example of how to a power point-style presentation the right way.

Approximately 35 minutes long. Stream available from Google Video below. Download also available from the original blog post at lessig.org (link at the top of this post).

The US Copyright Office report referred to in the presentation can be found here (Warning: it’s a 2MB pdf file so click with care). Needless to say that at around 200 pages, I haven't read it in much detail.