Public-domain documents are often important sources for
open educational resource (OER) providers. Educators could soon have more
public-domain documents from which to choose.
The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, passed in
1998 in honor of the late entertainer and congressman, extended copyright
protection of future works to 70 years after the creator’s death (previously 50
years) and added 20 years to the copyright of works already in existence. The
law expires at the end of the year and there appears to be little momentum to
extend it any further.
“We are not aware of any such efforts, and it’s not
something we are pursuing,” a spokesperson for the Recording Industry
Association of America said.
Historians have criticized the copyright protections
because they prevented preservation of some works that are nearly 100 years old.
In addition, the Internet has led advocacy groups and companies such as
Google to organize public opinion against open-access limits.
“I haven’t seen any evidence that Big Content companies
plan to push for another term extension,” said Daniel Nazer, attorney for the
Electronic Frontier Foundation. “This is an election year, so if they wanted to
get a big ticket like that through Congress, you would expect to see them
laying the groundwork with lobbying and op-eds.”
