User:Bluefoxicy/Copyright reform

I would like here to propose a free venture of copyright reform in the US.

Original State of Copyright Law in the United States

To begin, let us cite Wikipedia on United States copyright law.

 The ... Copyright Act of 1790 ... secured an author the exclusive right to publish
 and vend ... for a term of 14 years, with the right of renewal for one additional
 14 year term if the author was still alive.

Further, the current state is as such:

 Copyrights are currently slated to last for seventy years after the death of an
 author, or seventy-five to ninety-five years in the case of works of corporate
 authorship and works first published before January 1, 1978. All works published
 in the United States before 1923 are in the public domain; however, works created
 before 1978 but not published until recently may be protected until 2047.

In summation:

• Originally the Copyright term was 14 years, with one 14 year renewal by request
• Currently the Copyright term is the life of the author plus 70-95 years

Proposed Goal State

My proposed goal state is that Copyright be reduced to 7 year duration with at most three renewals, allowing renewal any time within two years of expiration. Thus the terms are 7 years; 14 years (renewal at 5 years); 21 years (renewal at 13 years); and 28 years (renewal after 19 years).

My reasoning behind this is that Copyright renewal costs money, and such expenses would be passed on as a fee by the Copyright Bureau. Further, it costs corporations processing fees in operations, legal, and accounting to make note when Copyright is renewed; whereas expiration of copyright can be an automated assumption. With nothing to gain, corporations would refrain from renewing Copyright where not helpful to them.

The Copyright Bureau currently holds copies of Copyrighted works when filed, as the works themselves are submitted; trade secrets such as the Microsoft Windows source code are placed in the Copyright. Exposing these secrets prematurely is harmful; but exposing them eventually is important. My proposed goal state in this context is that the Copyright Office will allow a Copyright to be filed or renewed "Secret" and will release the actual Copyright into the public after twice the total duration of the Copyright period including all renewals, or when the Copyright holder willfully requests it; for example, if the Windows XP source code were renewed twice and then let run out at 21 years, the source would be automatically published 42 years after the initial Copyright. An extension of this non-release period can be made, to double it, within 4 years of its end; a fee would be charged for this.

My reasoning behind this is that the information should eventually be released. The maximum capacity for a submitted Copyright trade secret would be 56 years before forced release; this is plenty of time for the company to obsolete the secret, but the extension period allows the Copyright Bureau to keep its copy sealed for up to 112 years. Importantly, once the Copyright is expired, the information is no longer Copyrighted. If the Microsoft Windows XP source code, as our example gave, was released 1 year after Copyright expired, Microsoft would be allowed to take action against the employee leaking it if desired; but recipients would be free to distribute the code, as it would be public domain. This would not trigger the release by the Copyright Bureau of their complete copy.

Existing Copyrighted works which would have expired their first renewal (i.e. 14 years old or older) should be treated as if they just were granted their second renewal, being given 7 years with chance of one 7 year renewal. Existing works younger should be treated as if just filed or published, being granted Copyright for 7 years with up to 3 renewals. Existing expired works would remain expired.

My reasoning behind this is damage control. Nobody should wake up and find their Copyright faulted. If they've enjoyed over half the new maximum term, then they only have the other half left; we'll be friendly and not make them pay anything. If they've enjoyed 50 years of Copyright, we still can't yank the rug out from under them, so we'll give them 7-14 years to adjust. If they haven't hit that half-way mark, we'll treat it as a new work. This is a very benign proposal and it could be a lot stricter; I intentionally proposed it loose to give businesses and Copyright holders a chance to adjust.

Proposed Method

Our proposed method is simple. Rather than a funded effort, the effort would be strictly voluntary. Knowledgeable persons would use their testimony to argue the law, and gather the testimony of others.

The primary component of this effort is knowledgeable persons. This includes civilians whom understand Copyright law, its history, and its impact on our society. These can be persons who can give conjecture or study on topics such as education and the Copyright of textbooks and other material; technology and the Copyright of software; and other ventures.

The secondary but equally important component of this effort is actual corporate input. The primary component would use their connections to businessmen whom can give first-hand experience and testimony to the impact of a shortened Copyright on their business. This is a difficult component to supply because it requires businesses publishing a successful Copyrighted product that is over 28 years old to comment on the full life cycle of a copyrighted work within the scope of the maximum Copyright period, and if the given 28 years is adequate for this life cycle. Musicians, independent or published under a label, would be a key element here.

Once the necessary information is collected from these individuals and corporations, decisions on the maximum length Copyright can be extended to should be made. The short 7 year renewal period should be kept to allow automated bail-out by "pocket veto" method.

Once ready, those wishing to be involved should appear before Congress to testify why the law should be changed, how it should be changed, the rationale behind each point, and how it would possibly affect our economy and our society.