Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
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.
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Kinda but not. Prior to the passing of the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright in the US required formal, costly registration. Registration lasted 28 years and could be renewed once for an additional 28 years for a total of 56 years. This caused lots of problems as works that were copyrighted in one nation were considered public domain in others.
The Copyright Act brought the US in line with the rest of the world in terms of duration (life + 50 years). This is, IMO, the lesser of the two big changes. The greater of the two is that copyright is inherent in any creative work as soon as it is given tangible form. This is huge. It means that anyone and everyone can be a creator and have their works protected by copyright law, not just those fortunate enough to be wealthy or have wealthy patrons.
Which brings me to the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, aka the Sonny Bono Act, aka the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, which froze the advancement date for works automatically entering the public domain in the US. And this in turn brings me to secret trade treaties like the TPP carrying DMCA-style and copyright term extension provisions which the US, notably backed by the MPAA, has been strong-arming other nations into signing.
France may have started it but Big Content players in the US have been pushing it further every chance they get.