copyright expirations

I am a student at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. With the coming expiration of Mickey's copyright within five years, I want to do a story for my class on Friday about this issue. However, most of the clips I have read cover the same basic examples, Disney, Jane Austin, and George Gershwin. Are there any other famous copyrights that are due to expire soon? What are the potential losses to the public if Congress extends copyrights for another 20 years? If I understand correctly, the individual artist will not gain anything, because they are probably dead, if so, what sort of motivation does Congress have to extend these protections?

I would appreciate any help you could give me on this. Also, any suggestions for people I might interview in New York City would be helpful. This will be a TV story, so I cannot do much over the phone.

Thanks so much!

Heather Peurano
hmp8[_at_]columbia.edu Received on Wed Mar 11 1998 - 00:24:08 GMT