Copywrong

It's been awhile since I've ranted about anything, preferring to limit my postings to highlighting the different subjects that I'm interested in. Here comes a rant about something I'm very interested in.

In the interest of full disclosure: I am a Copyright holder. As a creator of intellectual property I have a right to decide its disposition and whether I make a financial profit from it. That's called copyright.

For awhile I have been watching as the right to these rights move from being a property right to an instrument of tyranny. I won't go into the different cases involved and to the extension of terms that are being used solely to benefit corporate "persons."

What I will highlight today is SABAM. They are the Belgian agency that collect music royalties and it has become one of the prime examples for how entirely out-of-touch-with-reality certain rightsholders groups are. Word has gotten out in Belgian media that SABAM is contacting local libraries across the nation, warning them that they will begin charging fees to libraries that engage volunteers to read books to children.

Volunteers.

Who read books to children.

This is not just a problem in Europe. Several decades ago, Michael Jackson's attorney's tried to charge people who sang "Happy Birthday" (to which he owned the rights) in their homes. They only gave up when they determined that there would be no way of proving, in a court of law, that their rights had actually been infringed.

The Sonny Bono Copyright Act extended terms from 50 years after the death of the author, to 75 five years after their demise. All so that Disney could continue to own The Mouse, who was about to go into public domain.

Now there are efforts afoot to extend Copyright into perpetuity and Congress has been authorized to be able to take works out of public domain.  What does all this add up to?

In effect, corporate control over all art and endless litigation, sometimes against the very artist responsible for the creation of a work of art.

I am not going into a lengthy argument to prove my points. This is a call to action. If this concerns you, figure it out for yourself and then act.