-----Original Message----- From: CChacon@aol.com <CChacon@aol.com> To: PAHUNTIN-L@rootsweb.com <PAHUNTIN-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Tuesday, November 17, 1998 6:34 PM Subject: Congress Passes Bill Detrimental to Genealogists >- Congress Passes Bill Detrimental to Genealogists > >The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate have been working >for a while on a bill designed to extend the term of copyright >protection by 20 years. H.R. 2589, the House version of copyright >term extension and now named, "The Sonny Bono Copyright Term >Extension Act," was adopted by the full House or Representatives >on March 25, 1998. The bill was sent to the Senate, where it >languished for some time. In September the Senate passed a >slightly different bill. The two bodies then worked out a >compromise document. The House and the Senate passed S. 505 on >October 7, 1998. President Clinton signed the bill on October 27, >1998. > >Per our Constitution, our government, "to promote the science and >useful arts" ... secures "for limited times to authors and >inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and >discoveries." This balances the right of a person to make a >profit, with the right of the people to the work (so they can >freely make derivative works). > >Until 1979, the copyright term was 56 years: one 28 year term, >extendible for an additional 28 years. Hence, in 1978 all works >created in or before 1922 were in the public domain. In 1979, >Congress RETROACTIVELY extended copyright terms 19 years, so that >the material from 1923 has never entered the public domain. Now, >19 years later, at the urging of the Walt Disney Company, the >Gershwin heirs, and many others concerned with their rights to >keep exclusive ownership of intellectual property, Congress has >RETROACTIVELY extended copyright terms another 20 years, to 95 >years. > >This means that materials written in 1923, which would have >entered the public domain on Jan. 1, 1999, will now enter the >public domain on Jan 1, 2019. Materials written in 1924 will now >enter the public domain on Jan. 1, 2020. And that, sir, is only >if Congress does not retroactively extend the term a third time. > >What impact does this have on genealogists? We all want >information. In this day and age, information usually is found >online or on CD-ROM disks. Yet the people who produce those online >databases and CD-ROM disks are now prohibited from reproducing >materials printed after 1922. > >Newspapers after 1922 (obituaries, especially) will now be in >copyright for another 20 years. You'll need to wait 20 more years >before they can be transcribed and put online for free. Old >genealogies, which might be useful if reprinted, cannot be freely >reprinted or placed online for an additional 20 years. Historical >materials cannot be reprinted or placed online for an additional >20 years. Likewise, obscure works whose copyright status is >uncertain or where the heirs cannot be tracked down, cannot be >placed online for an additional 20 years. > >For a much more detailed description of the impact, look at: >http://www.public.asu.edu/~dkarjala/ > >My thanks to Richard J. Yanco for his update on the issue. He was >quite helpful in describing the legal language of the bill to me. >If you would like to contact Richard, he is at: >rjyanco@unix.amherst.edu > > >============================================================== > >If you want to see the current issue as well as back issues of the >newsletter, look on the World Wide Web at: > > http://www.ancestry.com/columns/eastman/index.htm > >Please feel free to copy this subscription information and pass it >on to anyone else who you think might be interested in obtaining a >free subscription. > > > > >--part0_911349265_boundary-- > >______________________________