Posted by Adam Quinan on January 31, 2003 at 01:34:35 from 66.185.85.76 user Adam.
In Reply to: Re: US Copyright - I don't get the problem posted by Prue Eckett on January 30, 2003 at 20:33:31:
As i understand it, the original purpose of copyright was to give the original creator a period of time to benefit from his or her creation before anyone could produce their own copy of it. The American copyright was only valid if the work was originally published in the US not just in the country of origin. Books and even the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan had quick and cheap productions in the US to protect the copyright from the pirates there.
The original term was 14 years in both Britain and the US. Eventually it was extended longer and longer until it became fifty years after the death of the creator. Then came the latest straw...