Mexican pols and Hollywood vs. public domain
Get this. A new proposal from Hollywood, whoops, Mexico, would not just extend copyright terms from the-author’s-life-and-70 years to life-and-100. Afterwards, the Mexican government could collect royalties. So much for the concept for public domain, eh? Just nationalize it away to finance bureaucracy.
Meantime, as U.S. copyright expert Lawrence Lessig has pointed out, while copyrights were in effect, Hollywood could make out like a bandit at the expense of the preservation of Mexican culture. How splendid a distillation of the obnoxious sides of both Mexican and U.S. politics!
Imagine–a give-away to Yankee entertainment tycoons and Mexican government bureaucracy at the same time! What’s disturbing is that here in the States, the Democrats, who have favored both oppressive copyright law in recent years and big government for the most part, just might look South someday for inspiration.
The TeleRead site may have more commentary on this later. Meanwhile you can read comments directly from Mexican copyright experts.
April 1 isn’t that far off, and I just keep hoping this is an April Fool’s Day joke.
Item spotted via The Shifted Librarian.
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