A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran

Some wacky kids at the Stamford Fair Use Project use “snippets” of Disney films to explain copyright and fair use. Obviously, the kids are not big fans of copyright law, but does their scorn for extended copyright terms mean they really want US law to go back to the original 14 year term?

Geez, I hope not.

Anyway, this is a wonderfully fun parody, and there is no niftier irony than using Disney characters to comment on copyright use and the extended limits that many people blame on the Disney Corp. The 100 year term is described as “forever” in the film. I’d argue that 100 years isn’t “forever” by any reasonable definition, though I’d just as soon argue that I am not sure at all what a fair limit ought to be.

You’ll love this, and it’s educational, too.

If copyright was 14 years now, I would have lost copyright on the beginning of A Distant Soil before I finished it.

Our Founding Fathers had some pretty wonky ideas about property rights, which is why Thomas Jefferson liked the idea of a 14 year limited term on exclusive copyrights on the creations of one’s own hands, yet saw nothing wrong with owning human beings their entire life.

Thank you, Mr. Cognitive Disconnect.

I wish people would stop using this absurd logical fallacy of appeal to authority, especially in the case of our Founding Fathers who could not have forseen film, television, print on demand, or the internet.

But it is a great cartoon, isn’t it?

This item was posted at the old blog. Allan Harvey added the following:

I have a friend who argues that copyright should be for life only, and not extend beyond the death of the author. Children and future descendants should not, he contends, benefit from creativity that was not theirs. While I can see his point, I don’t necessarily agree.

Personally, I don’t have any problem with Disney owning their characters in perpetuity. Seems perfectly fair to me.