RE: Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster and Sonny Bono

On Thu, 3 Oct 2002, Chris Mohr wrote:

> [...] The first premise of Eldred's argument is that 'Progress' is
> limited to providing an incentive to create (and create only). Works in
> existence don't need an incentive. If this premise fails (as it would
> if Progress were interpreted to mean 'spread' or 'dissemination'), then
> Eldred's cause is doomed, and most likely his case as well.

Of all the works copyrighted in, say, 1925, less than 5% are still in print today. Most of the others were never reprinted after the first edition, despite the generous 1976 and 1998 term extensions. Clearly, extending the copyright terms hasn't encouraged any more dissemination or publication of those works.

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