We all have heard the court cases the entertainment industry is fighting on copyright infringement.  There is talk about updating the copyright law  now that the Internet is mainstream.  The entertainment industry wants it tightened.  The artists stand on both sides of the fence.

PBS MediaShift released a blog posting,  “Loosen Copyright Restrictions for the Internet Age” (April 2, 2007).  It summarizes the opinions of people who made comments and Dom Caristi, an Internet law expert.  Here are some suggestions from the posting.

  •  Reduce the length of time an item is copyrighted.  It is currently life plus 70 years.  Patents are only protected for 20 years.
  • Loosen up personal restrictions. Allow people the right to use it for personal, non-profit reasons.
  • Derivative work needs more protection.  Mash-ups and remixes are an infringement today, but should be considered new creative works.
  • The entertainment industry looses the most money through illegal copying in foreign countries.  There is nothing that can be done about this as it is another governments concern.  Countries like China and Mexico have other matters that are more urgent than copyright piracy.
  • The orginal copyright law was meant to protect the artist, not the corporations publishing the artist’s work.  Very little money is filtered down to the artist.