The Disappearing Public Domain: What is is, what’s happening to it, and why should we care? NINCH Town Hall Meeting VRA San Francisco 4/5/00
The Disappearing Public Domain-
Very short history of Public Spaces
Public Spaces are rapidly disappearing in the late 20th Century-
Bath bathrooms circa 1650
Paddington Station
Public Spaces are rapidly disappearing in the late 20th Century
Street-cams
3 blocks of NYC
Enemy of the State
Conversation at Westwood Farmers Market
Public Spaces are rapidly disappearing in the late 20th Century
Public Space is no longer public
Beverly Center Mall
Wisconsin Mall
Bookstores replace Libraries
Westwood Farmers Market
Public Spaces are rapidly disappearing in the late 20th Century
Static Over Low-Powered Radio NYT Editorial, 3/31/00
The erosion of the public domain-
Constitution, Article 1, Section 8
What is Copyright?
What’s part of Public Domain?
Lawyers defining the Public Domain
A simpler description
Importance of Public Domain
What threatens it?-
Time before works enter public domain
Lengthier Copyright Means
Works that should have already entered the Public Domain (but didn't)
Works that should have entered the Public Domain in the next few years (but won't)
Copyrighting Facts: Proposed Database Extraction legislation
NRC analysis of Coble Bill
Economics and Contract Laws preempting long-standing rights
Further commodification of information
Why does any of this matter?
The Disappearing Public Domain: What is is, what’s happening to it, and why should we care?