Congress may take books, musical compositions and other works out of the public domain, where they can be freely used and adapted, and grant them copyright status again, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
In a 6-2 ruling, the court ruled that just because material enters the public domain, it is not “territory that works may never exit.”
The top court was ruling on a petition by a group of orchestra conductors, educators, performers, publishers and film archivists who urged the justices to reverse an appellate court that ruled against the group, which has relied on artistic works in the public domain for their livelihoods.
They claimed that re-copyrighting public works would breach the speech rights of those who are now using those works without needing a license. There are millions of decades-old works at issue. Some of the well-known ones include H.G. Wells’ Things to Come; Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and the musical compositions of Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky.
» via Wired
Ummm… This seems kinda shady.
Further privatization of the commons. :/
(via solitaryforager)
ARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
I am speechless at the staggering lack of insight of the Supreme Court (or am I?). This is an utter travesty, and...
Seriously?! Why do they even NEED to be copyrighted? The people who made them are dead! Copyrights are intended to see...
excuse me oh my god i could write a paper on why this is STUPID and BAD works inside the public domain are so vital...
i’m just going to start learning the canadian anthem k
What fuckery this is.