<<Disney was probably wise enough to renew their copyrights every 28 years. That said, please consult an attorney--I don't play one on TV, or on the Internet, but I do Google fairly well. >> Rich Well, I decided to google for "history of copyright" The following site popped up high in the list (applying only to US law) http://arl.cni.org/info/frn/copy/timeline.html Worldwide the story is much more convoluted. But all-in-all it confirms that perpetual copyright is NOT a basic human right. Quoting from the page (fair use?) 1790: Copyright Act of 1790 The First Congress implemented the copyright provision of the U.S. Constitution in 1790. The Copyright Act of 1790, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by Securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of Such Copies, was modeled on the Statute of Anne (1710). It granted American authors the right to print, re-print, or publish their work for a period of fourteen years and to renew for another fourteen. The law was meant to provide an incentive to authors, artists, and scientists to create original works by providing creators with a monopoly. At the same time, the monopoly was limited in order to stimulate creativity and the advancement of "science and the useful arts" through wide public access to works in the "public domain." Taking modern trends to a ludicrous extreme: imagine if the first person to name one of their children "Emily" owned the copyright of that sequence of letters for ever. Imagine, having to pay someone 10-generations later a royalty to use that name for your child. B0b
