Lessig, Lawrence. . Free culture : the nature and future of creativity / Lawrence Lessig. 0143034650 (pbk.) series New York : Penguin Books, 2005.
Call#: Van Pelt Library KF2979 .L47 2005

Lessig, Lawrence. .

Free culture : the nature and future of creativity / Lawrence Lessig. 0143034650 (pbk.) series New York : Penguin Books, 2005.
Call#: Van Pelt Library KF2979 .L47 2005

 

“Free Culture”, Lawrence Lessig
Chapter 13: Eldred

Abstract:
A retired computer programmer, Eric Eldred, disgruntled by his daughter’s inability to appreciate his favorite author, posted Nathanel’s Hawthornes work on the web. His experiment didn’t feed his daughter’s appetite for the 19th Century novelist, but gave Eldred a vision to build “a library of public domain works by scanning these works and making them available for free”. In 1998 Robert Frost’s collection of poems New Hampshire was due to enter the public domain, however the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) extended the copyright of Frost’s work by an additional twenty years, making it inaccessible to the public domain until 2019. That accounts for over one hundred years of work that would be ‘frozen’ from the public domain. Lessig notes as well that at this point there is nothing stopping Congress from extending the copyright protection again in 2019. Mickey Mouse was set to enter the public domain in 1998, but through massive lobbying efforts their monopoly was extended through the CTEA. In the first two hundred years of the republic copyright was extended only twice, however since 1962 the copyright has been extended eleven times. This trend, Lessig argues, exposes Congress’ willingness to be bought to extend these monopolies.  In defiance, Eldred announced he would post the work anyway, and because of his rebellion he would be considered a felon according to the 1998 No Electronic Theft Act. Lessig joined Eldred’s cause and chronicles his adventures of Eldred’s case all the way to the Supreme Court, where he unsuccessfully argued the CTEA was unconstitutional. Only 2% of the works taken from 1923 to 1942 have any commercial value, Lessig illuminates, that this is detrimental to the “works that are not famous, not commercially exploited, and no longer available as a result”, which now comprises over a hundred years of culture. When technology has the ability to reconstruct the library of Alexandria, the current copyright system has become an impediment to its construction, and as Lessig argues that is harmful for all of society.

Relevance
This chapter irradiated the limitations of copyright law on the beneficial experiment of preserving culturally important works online. Eldred’s endeavor is not distant from the vision of UBUWeb, making free and available works of importance in the avant-garde to the general public. Lessig makes a strong point to show that it isn’t the commercially valued work that is of importance, but those of culture, that aren’t commercially viable anymore and have every reason to enter the public domain to encourage education and awareness of culture. There is a great number of orphaned and frozen films that will literally disintegrate if they’re not rightfully preserved as soon as possible, but due to these asinine extensions, that uphold the interest of the few and damage the benefit of the public, much of our culture of the twentieth century will be frozen and unavailable.