#copyright duration

Happy Public Domain Day, here's a vid I found directly articulating what sucks about the current state of copyright law!

Tho, I will say, there's one major obstacle in unfucking copyright that he doesn't mention. Namely: the "takings clause" of the constitution, which legal mumbo-jumbo aside, could be used to argue against rolling back copyright as "taking" from the corpos who own them.

Copyright maximalists, like this grade-A asshole who deserves a sock in the jaw, crow a lot about it, and unfortunately they might have precedent and case law in their favor.

But, I have heard there are ways to do it without setting it off, for example by allowing for a 10-year "grace period" for those who own those copyrights, which sucks but it's better than nothing.

....Well, this is a real Monkey's Paw moment. Because like, god this bill (Attempting to reduce copyright duration back to 56 years) is everything I wanted, but also, it's being done by a fascist idiot (Josh Hawley) for the worst possible reasons (Disney being insufficiently homophobic).

And, people in the know have pointed out that his specific wording/way of targeting it, is not really going to hold up in court. But still, I think it is worth at least seizing on the moment to push the Overton Window in our direction,

So, if you live in 'Murica, please call your congresspeople and tell them that you want them to vote for The Copyright Clause Restoration Act (even if you have to apologize to the Dems/explain your reasoning because; I mean; good idea but bad reasons and being done by a fascist idiot) and that if/when it fails, you'd want to see more legislative attempts at copyright term reduction, ideally better-constructed and more universal.

Because like... it may be a deeply stupid moment, but it's a moment we should push on as constituents to show that yes; in fact; we do want copyright term reduction, because now is our big chance!

A thing I learned today that I’m annoyed I learned by; of all things; browsing Wikipedia on Canadian copyright law: Apparently Canada is extending its copyright duration thanks to a bullshit treaty with us in the US, and I am so fucking mad.

Like, this is one of my pet issues and it makes me feel so fucking hopeless and helpless that it’s not only bad but getting worse, including in the US with the latest godawful bill Thom Tills has farted out, the Digital Copyright Act!

Like, for all @afloweroutofstone has said about copyright duration needing to be reduced and fair use expanded, there is no actual legislation or actual political movement that’s actually getting that shit done that I know of, at least in the US!

So there was an article on Slashdot a couple of days ago claiming that the first few Doctor Who episodes may fall into the public domain at the end of this year. Obviously this isn't true; the submitter had confused the copyrights in the broadcasts (which expire after the end of the 50th year after broadcast) with the copyright in the actual film.

So when will the episodes escape into the public domain?

Film copyright lasts until the end of the 70th year after the last of the following die:

the principal director,

the author of the screenplay,

the author of the dialogue, or

the composer of music specially created for and used in the film

with various qualifications if their identities aren't known, or they don't exist. So we need to take an episode, identify all the above people, and find out when they died. If any are still alive we can't calculate how long the copyright will last.

The following is all based on the information provided by Wikipedia. It may be wrong. For simplicity I've only gone through the First Doctor episodes, and in the case where Wikipedia didn't have dates for a relevant person, I am assuming they are still alive.

The first Doctor Who serial, An Earthly Child, was directed by Waris Hussein, who is still alive - so that is at least 70 years away.

The first serial I could find where all the relevant people have died is The Aztecs (s1e6). The composer, Richard Bennett, died in 2012, which puts the serial into the public domain on 1 January 2083.

The writer of The Time Meddler (s2e9) died in 1986, however the script editor, Donald Tosh, is still alive. So if he wrote any of the dialogue or screenplay, the work is in indefinite copyright. If he didn't, it will fall into the public domain in 2057.

Terry Nation, who wrote many episodes of Doctor Who including The Daleks' Master Plan (s3e4), died in 1997, but the composer, Tristram Cary, died in 2008. As with The Time Meddler, Donald Tosh was the script editor, so this episode will be in the public domain in 2079 or in at least 70 years.

Tristram Cary also composed the incidental music to The Gunfighters (s3e8), so the copyright in that serial should expire by 2079.

The final serial we need to consider (of 29 in total) is The Smugglers (s4e1). The director, Julia Smith, died in 1997, so this should ender the public domain in 2068.

Of course none of these dates is definite - there may have been other people involved, or the people I have identified may not have contributed enough to count, but it looks like no episode of Doctor Who (at least involving the First Doctor will enter the public domain for another 52 years. We'll be seeing the 100th Anniversary episode before anyone can make legal, unlicensed Doctor Who stories.

And that's assuming copyright doesn't get extended again - and with Mickey Mouse possibly falling into the public domain within the next decade (if it isn't there already), extension is a significant threat.

Copyright is a mess.