I’m not the only one pissed off about copyright law (previous post by me on the topic). Apparently the film Eyes on the Prize (a great film about the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s which used to play on PBS once in a while) had been prevented from screening on TV or screen for 10 years due to copyright restrictions and in 2005 a non-profit activist group took up the cause on their own.

http://www.downhillbattle.org/eyes/

Copyright law has expanded out of control, and its public mission is no longer being served. Copyright was originally designed to encourage creativity and innovation–much like patent law. But for the past 50 years multi-national corporations like Disney and the major record labels have aggressively lobbied Congress to expand and expand and expand the reach of copyright law. Instead of lasting 20 years and requiring registration (like patents do) copyright has become automatic and now corporate copyrights last 90 years.

They were roundly criticized for offering the movie for download in defiance of the copyright, and some folks thought that they were hijacking the film’s powerful message for their own message against copyright law, but in the end it may have worked: PBS reissued an educational version of the series in the fall of 2006, making it available on DVD for the first time.

What copyright restrictions?

The film shows people singing Happy Birthday for one thing. Yeah, that’s right - Happy Birthday is under copyright! But the film is basically made up of TV clips and news footage from the 60’s and the owner of the film was unable to pay for the licenses to release the film again! Under present (insane) copyright law, the film might not have been shown again until 2050!