Public domain: a belated step forward, two huge steps back
The first day of the year is a special time in the copyright world. It’s when a flood of works whose copyright has expired finally emerge from behind…
Canada is about to repeat New Zealand’s folly by extending copyright term; so bring back registration
Canada looks likely to follow New Zealand’s bad example by extending its copyright term by 20 years, purely for the sake of a trade deal. The New Zealand…
New Zealand is about to commit copyright theft – the real kind
When modern copyright was invented with the Statute of Anne in 1710, it consisted of a bargain. In return for a time-limited, government-enforced monopoly, creators agreed that their…
An artist’s messy divorce shows why copyright shouldn’t be regarded as a kind of property
One of the key themes of Walled Culture is the tension between the 18th-century idea of copyright, and the 21st-century digital world where we spend an increasing proportion…
Longer copyright protection means fewer books are available, and they cost more
As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the standard copyright term of life plus 70 years makes no sense: a promise that they’ll be paid after their…