Prof. William Patry has a great blog post on the impact of US copyright term extension on Korea. The international impact of US term extension is not discussed enough (at least from my somewhat myopic vantage point in the US), and Patry’s description of one impact point is startling.
Additionally, Patry makes the point that “the purpose of term extension . . . has always been about the past, not the future; it has always been about keeping pre-existing works out of the public domain and not about any alleged incentive to create new ones.” Having argued this very point with those who do not share my concern about copyright duration and the public domain, this is certainly far from received wisdom in many circles. The utilitarian copyright argument is under increasing strain (as is the notion that today’s royalties fund today’s creations), and Patry’s point must be openly discussed and amplified not just for the continued survival of (what’s left) of the public domain, but also by the entertainment industry itself as it grapples with maintaining it’s business in the face of technological advances that it is slowly and begrudgingly incorporating.
Needless to say that I agree with Patry’s post, and hope to have guests on Hearsay Culture to explore its ramifications.
