Re: benefits of the public domain and limited copyright terms?

On Fri, 5 May 2000, Jon Noring <noring[_at_]netcom.com> wrote:
>
> On another mailing list a very pointed question was asked, the gist of
> the question being "why is the Public Domain necessary -- what's wrong
> with perpetual copyright terms?"

Because it would likely have stopped Shakespeare, Walt Disney, Andrew Lloyd Weber, and countless other artists from creating their most popular works:

   Shakespeare's _Hamlet_ [1601] would've infringed Saxo Grammaticus'

     _History of Prince Amleth_ [1185] ; his _Romeo and Juliet_ [1591]
     was taken from Arthur Brooke's poem _Romeus and Juliet_ [1562] ;
     most of his historical plays would have infringed R. Holingshead's
     _Chronicles of England_ [1573] ; etc.

   Andre Lloyd Webber's _Phantom of the Opera_ [1986] would have
     infringed Gaston Leroux's novel [1910] of the same name.

   Most of Walt Disney's animated films were based on public-domain
     works published in the 1800's.  _Show White_, _Cinderella_,
     _Pinnochio_, _Jungle Book_ (released exactly one year after
     Kipling's copyrights expired), _Alice in Wonderland_, etc. etc.

Lance Purple
<lpurple[_at_]netcom.com> Received on Sat May 06 2000 - 15:29:48 GMT