Boing Boing reports that the English have done something impossible in our own country: Turned back an effort to extend copyright for, all practical purposes, ever — 95 years:
This is the first time that I know of, in the history of the world, that any country has given up on extended copyright terms. In the US, the Supreme Court found that 98 percent of the works in copyright were “orphans” with no visible owner and no way to clear them and bring them back into the world. Extending copyright dooms nearly every author’s life’s work to obscurity and disappearance, in order to make a few more pennies for the tiny minority of millionaire artists like Cliff Richards (and billionaires like Paul McCartney).
It gives one hope. (On the other hand… Cliff Richards?)
The boingboing article mistranscribed the name. It’s Cliff Richard (UK recording artist). If you read the original Reuters report, Richard’s hits start hitting the public domain in a year.
Oh, I know that, Brandy. I’m just having a little fun at the expense of a blog that gets 34 million hits a day. — RDC