Klarinet Archive - Posting 000984.txt from 1999/02

From: David Blumberg <reedman@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] A silent Act of Congress - The Mickey Mouse copyright extension
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 20:11:07 -0500

US. Congress recently managed to pass a "silent act" that makes music
copyrighted
after 1924 not public domain for 95 years instead of the current 75. Why?
Because Disney's Mickey Mouse was coming up to the end of its copyright. So
Disney lobbied to Congress to extend it's copyright. Problem was that all
copyrights had to be extended to allow that. So without as much as a peep,
Congress made a "silent act" of extending the Copyright laws to 95 years.
How unfortunate. Works (like Ravel, Gershwin) that would have had a chance
at being re-released, or re-arranged will now have to wait another 20 years.
It is called in the publishing industry the "Mickey Mouse Act".

David Blumberg - My Tempo Accompaniments for Woodwind Players (150+ pieces,
Demos)
reedman@-----.com
http://www.sneezy.org/david_blumberg/
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