Disney, Copyright, and Historical Genius

Copyright Expiration

When the founders of our nation thought about copyrights, they gave them a term of 14 years, renewable to 28 years. Currently the terms for copyright vary depending on the source of the work, but a regular Joe can expect about 96 years total, and a corporation like Disney gets about 121 years.

The current length is the result of the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act". It is rumored that there was a large push to make copyright perpetual and never ending, but that constituted a constitutional violation. Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution grants congress the power

"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"

The Motion Picture Association of America President alternatively proposed a "forever less a day" term for copyrights at the time.

The Political Perspective

The official reasoning behind the extension of copyrights includes "stimulating the creation of new works and providing enhanced economic incentives to preserve existing works"..

Proponents of the Mickey Mouse Protection Act offered up such explanations as "people live longer now", and "copyrighted material can still inspire art". Opponents of the act pointed out that the legislation was blatant corporate welfare and that a very small number of wildly successful entities would substantially benefit from such an extension.

The Math

Politicos can go back and forth arguing about any particular subject until the cows come home. Strangely, they never seem to actually document the benefits and detriments of any particular issue and weigh the consequences intelligently. They seemingly prefer to keep talking until the other side of the argument either gives up or greatly reduces their position.

Fortunately for all of us thinking people, we have the ability to seek a logical conclusion via mathematics and critical thinking.

Now, in order to come up with a logical conclusion to the issue, first we have to define what it is we seek and then come up with a list of potential parameters that would affect the outcome. Certainly, these are largely debatable, but in fact, one person actually took the time to work out the formula for determining the optimal copyright length.

The conclusion of that study? 14 years. The study is based on the mountain of data that exists from copyrighted works and is all hypothetical moving forward. I find it quite interesting how our founders actually pegged the number over 200 years ago. The original copyright law is actually based on an English law, but the time parameters for the English law exceeded that of the one that our founders put together.

Men of Genius

The founding fathers of our nation had unbelievable forethought about the challenges that we would face moving forward. Many of the decisions we collectively have made through our representatives would have been plainly rejected by them.

What is quite clear is that they were very much aware of the inevitable demise of government concern for individual rights in opposition to greed. While there is always a difference of opinion about whether the Constitution should be interpreted strictly by the letter or by spirit, there is no debate as to whether or not the spirit of the constitution lives in each and every one of us.

American Spirit

The laws of the land will always change in scope greatly according to business interests - as business models, technology, and the national economy change, so must our laws. Companies that enjoy vast success will equally enjoy an unbalanced access and influence on our laws. The balance is truly struck by the spirit of the American people.

Because copyrights ostensibly affect such a small segment of the population, very little effort will be made to adjust those laws in accordance with common sense, logic, or even science. Other issues that affect us more directly will certainly be addressed, corrected, or reversed because at some point the people will cry out "enough is enough" and demand action from our representatives.

This is a great pitfall in our government's structure. Proper application of copyright that strikes a balance between the interest of the citizenry and corporate welfare would result in a vast economic and artistic boom that would have a far reaching and positive affect throughout our domestic structure.

The constitutional check to this pitfall is elected representatives, and an informed electorate. These are supposed to ensure that our representatives are of character such that our minor and peripheral interests are looked after with as much energy as the interests of the business world. While I won't say, at this time, that our congressman are not doing as we ask, I will say that they have a track record through the course of my life of setting aside the real interests of constituents in favor of that which will empower them.