Troy Johnson writes “There has been a bill proposed to increase the Public Domain. Public Domain Enhancement Act (HR 2601). A website created by Lawrence Lessig who helped draft the bill is at eldred.cc
I urge librarians to write your congress person to support this bill. There is an online petition but I urge people to take the extra step and write a letter so that your views are taken with full weight.
The bill requires a $1 payment to continue a copyright for longer than fifty years. The bill is retroactive so we would not have to wait fifty years for the public domain to increase. Items that were copyrighted 50 years ago would need to be reregistered or they will go into the public domain. This bill would not harm copyright holders with valuable work because all they have to do is pay $1 and their work continues to be protected. “
I’d also recommend reading Saving the Net.
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