Last October, I camped out in front of the Supreme Court in order to witness the Eldred Argument.
We lost, and now, if copyright law stays the way it is right now, nothing is going to go into the public domain for at least 18 years. (Maybe longer, if the copyright term is extended again.)
However, as of yesterday, there is hope. “Phase Two” if you will, of the Eldred strategy to rebuild the public domain: The Public Domain Enhancement Act.
The Public Domain Enhancement Act is the same thing as the “Eldred Act” that many of you have been asking me about over the last few months. At the time, I couldn’t explain it to anyone. But it turns out it’s pretty simple.
The law would place works in the public domain after 50 years unless a copyright holder sent in a dollar to secure the later 80+ years of protection. That’s it.
You can help out right now by signing this petition.
We’ll figure out how to rebuild the public domain yet!