Sunday, December 26, 2004
"intellectual property" v. culture
Wired news reports:
This is an inversion of the clause in the U.S. Constitution that says
As Techdirt comments:
Eyes on the Prize, the landmark documentary on the civil rights movement, is no longer broadcast or sold new in the United States. It's illegal.*snip*
The 14-part series highlights key events in black Americans' struggle for equality and is considered an essential resource by educators and historians, but the filmmakers no longer have clearance rights to much of the archival footage used in the documentary. It cannot be rebroadcast on PBS (where it originally aired) or any other channels, and cannot be released on DVD until the rights are cleared again and paid for.
"It's a scenario from hell," said Jon Else, series producer and cinematographer for Eyes on the Prize, and now director of the documentary program at the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. "(Licensing agreements) are short because it's all we can afford. The funding for documentaries in this country (is) abysmal."
This is an inversion of the clause in the U.S. Constitution that says
Congress shall have the power . . . [t]o 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 . . .Here we have not the Congress, but the copyright owners "securing for limited times . . . the exclusive Right."
As Techdirt comments:
The end result is that people end up having completed, historically significant documentaries that no one can watch because it breaks the law.
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