A Fair(y) Use Tale

Copyright has never been more relevant as it is today, as per the above Fair(y) Use Tale. In 2001, along with a slew of notable lawyers and academics, web publisher Eric Eldred and Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig established Creative Commons. As a new organization, the group developed a web application that helped individuals dedicate their creative work to the public domain. As a movement, Creative Commons, open-source and free software appeared to be the long sought after rebel alliance in a world of corporate empires.

Nevertheless, the battle has been long and treacherous. Chris Sprigman's article "The Mouse that Ate the Public Domain: Disney, The Copyright Term Extension Act, And eldred V. Ashcroft" is a great way to familiarize yourself with the state of copyright law.

THE CLIFF NOTES VERSION: COPYRIGHT & DISNEY
Essentially, In 1998, the Walt Disney Company was in full panic knowing that their beloved Mouse's copyright was about to expire in 2003. After nearly 7 million dollars in campaign donations and a huge effort to lobby for a copyright extension program, Disney convinced President Clinton to sign the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. The act stopped thousands of works from reaching the public domain. A year later, Eric Eldred led a team of plaintiffs to challenge the extension statute. He lost in the district court, the D.C. circuit and the Supreme Court, despite some interesting arguments from Lawrence Lessig as key counsel.

The internets got pissed off. Hence the high circulation of a Fair(y) Use Tale.

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A Fair(y) Use Tale

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