Free "Happy Birthday"
| � by Michael Dare a few seconds ago � | � |
We, the public, wish to extend our Domain, called the Public Domain. Every extension of copyright is at the expense of the Public Domain. Corporations will extend copyright forever if we, the Public, let them trample on our Domain.
When "Happy Birthday" is sung in a film, should Mildred and Patty Hill get credit? Absolutely, they wrote it in 1893. Should AOL Time Warner reel in $2 million a year licensing the song more than a century after it was written? I don't think so. Let people post birthday parties to YouTube without the threat of a lawsuit from a mighty media corporation.
AOL Time Warner, as a public service, we ask you to voluntarily release the song "Happy Birthday" into the Public Domain.
When "Happy Birthday" is sung in a film, should Mildred and Patty Hill get credit? Absolutely, they wrote it in 1893. Should AOL Time Warner reel in $2 million a year licensing the song more than a century after it was written? I don't think so. Let people post birthday parties to YouTube without the threat of a lawsuit from a mighty media corporation.
AOL Time Warner, as a public service, we ask you to voluntarily release the song "Happy Birthday" into the Public Domain.
Why Is This Idea Important?
In the real world, the internet has shrunk the length of copyright to a nanosecond, making it virtually immaterial. In the interest of expanding our Domain, we, the Public, wish to let copyright die or shrink to its original parameter of 14 years.
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