"Sonny Bono made me an Orphan..." (and why you can't get The Wonder Years on DVD)

By
Andrew
on April 27, 2008 7:23 PM | | Comments (2395) | TrackBacks (0)
While I won't make any jokes about Cher or trees, or skiing, I will give a hat tip to That Other Andrew(tm) for pointing out the reintroduction of bills governing "Orphan Works" under copyright law.

For those who are unaware, it's illegal to use a copyrighted photo, image, piece of music, film, or written work without the permission of the copyright holder  or successors, including heirs. When people die, the implied copyrights of their family photographs (implied copyright means that anything you create, you own the copyright too, at least since the Copyright Act of 1976) is probably not something given much attention to in their wills.

Anyway, under current law, if you can't find the holder or heir, you can't get permission to use anything, and you can't use it. The bills, introduced last week by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) (Andrew interviewed Rep. Berman last month at Tech Policy Summit) would create a "safe-harbor" for those who make a good-faith effort to track down owners of this stuff, and if someone pops up later would entitle them to collect something without the hassle of litigation or liability.

Doesn't this seem a bit silly? Well, it is. Who can we thank for this? 

Bono. Not the guy with the glasses, the one who was married to Cher.

Before his admittedly tragic death, one of the late Rep. Sonny Bono (R-CA)'s accomplishments (besides the song I Got You Babe,) was the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 that bears his name, although some call it the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.

Why? The Act extended terms of copyright to 70 years after an author's death, or 120 years after creation for works owned by a corporation. Sounds a bit long, doesn't it?

Not for the Walt Disney Company. See, before the passage of the 1998 CTEA, the terms of the 1976 Copyright Act would have had the copyright on Steamboat Willie, the first known work bearing Mickey Mouse, expiring in 2000. Imagine the shock to the economy if Mickey Mouse suddenly entered the public domain. Something had to be done, and Sonny, rest his soul, and his successor, Congresswoman Mary Bono [Mack] (R-CA), were the people to do it.

So, the Act passed, and thousands of works about to enter the public domain were suddenly snatched back, leading, of course to our friend Lawrence Lessig making one of his trips to Washington to argue (unsuccessfully) Eldred v. Ashcroft.

How does this effect you or me? One of my favorite T.V. shows, The Wonder Years
is unavailable on DVD. Why? That show featured so much copyrighted material from the 1960's era (since it was set, of course, in the 1960's) that obtaining permissions and arranging royalties for DVD sales has proved to be rather impossible. Some copyright holders won't give permission, but many simply can't be found. The works are Orphans. 

Good luck to Senator Leahy and Congressman Berman. Fred Savage's future income may depend on your success.

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