(no subject)

I think one reason why many people are upset at Disney over copyright is they they themselves have reaped much from the public domain---Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan but *none* of their works have in turned, been returned to the public domain to enrich the culture. Even "Steamboat Willie," the first work to (maybe) hit the public domain, was itself a copyright violation of a movie called "Steamboat Bill" (and the original script for "Steamboat Willie" even makes mention of "Steamboat Bill"). It's this hypocracy that is so upsetting. I have nothing against copyright, but I do have a problem with how it is currently being handled. Life of the author *plus* 70 years? 95 years for a work for hire? Technically that is a "limited time" but then again, so is "a million years" and Congress has the authority to do such a thing (from the recent decision in the Eldred vs. Ashcroft case). If this keeps up, then we might find ourselves in a situation described in "Melancholy Elephants" by Spider Robinson: http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200011/0671319744___1.htm -spc (And I find it odd that Disney has contributed campaign funds to Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina---since when has the Disney Corporation lived in South Carolina? Unless it's for other, legislative reasons ... )