Quote:
Originally Posted by ratinox
This is why copyright is supposed to be time limited. What's supposed to happen is that, after the copyright term expires, the protected work enters the public domain. The big problem with copyright in the US (and the parts of the world the US has successfully browbeat into following) is that copyright terms keep being extended in order to keep "Steamboat Willie" out of the public domain.
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Technically, it should be the parts of the world that France has successfully browbeat into following. The overall copyright treaty is the Berne Convention of 1886, which says that copyright must extend to at least 50 years after the death of the author's death. Victor Hugo, the French author, was the prime driver behind the Berne Convention. I blame the Mouse for US copyright and likely that helped to drive the US to sign the Berne Convention in 1988, but the rest of the world has France to thank, not Uncle Walt.