A few months back, I told you all about the copyright lawsuit over the song Happy Birthday in the post Happy Day for Good Morning to You Productions. In case you’re wondering, it’s still going on. <Sigh!> That’s the thing with these intellectual property lawsuits – you might win, you might be successful and you may not have committed infringement. But, it’s going to take a LONG-LONG-LOOOOOOONG time to figure it all out and usually a lot of monetary resources to figure it out.
I found this great video put together by PBS Idea Channel about copyright law. It discusses the length of copyright, when a copyright goes into the public domain and other issues to think about when you are wanting to use a copyrighted work within your project. Since it came from PBS you know it’s not only educational, but also entertaining.
Check this out!
What do you think? Should the copyright statute be shortened? One idea presented is to give some sort of special designation to iconic American creations where they never fall into the public domain, items like Mickey Mouse or even our favorite song Happy Birthday. Take part in the conversation by way of the Comment section below and Stay Tuned In!
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Statute of RyAnne 