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posted by martyb on Monday July 02 2018, @12:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the life-after-death dept.

Two lawyers are still fighting to keep Buck Rogers from entering the public domain, something which should have begun 70 years after the author's death. Philip Nowlan, the stories' author, died in 1940 and so his works should have joined the public domain starting 2010. Part of the strategy from the copyright trolls has been to drag out the process with multiple lawsuits.

Back in October 2015 we brought you the story of the Buck Rogers Copyright Trolls, two lawyers who were fighting to keep Buck Rogers from entering the public domain using the discredited Sherlock Holmes system of licensing. Two and a half years later, Louise Geer and Dan Herman are still at it, using every trick in the book to keep a beloved tale out of the public domain, where it firmly belongs. Along the way the pair have stiffed multiple law firms, and currently are abusing a Bankruptcy Court in Pennsylvania in a Hail Mary effort to...well, it's not exactly clear what they're trying to do.

From Boing Boing : The continuing saga of Buck Rogers and the Copyright Trolls


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by FatPhil on Monday July 02 2018, @01:09PM (9 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday July 02 2018, @01:09PM (#701320) Homepage

    entering the public domain, something which should have begun 70 years after the author's death.

    That should read "... 28 years after original publication (on assumption the IP owners cared to renew the copyright after the first 14 years)".

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by jdavidb on Monday July 02 2018, @02:22PM (8 children)

    by jdavidb (5690) on Monday July 02 2018, @02:22PM (#701361) Homepage Journal
    The Constitution prohibits the making of an ex post facto law. Except for retroactively extending copyright, which is apparently permitted.
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    • (Score: 5, Informative) by schad on Monday July 02 2018, @03:04PM (7 children)

      by schad (2398) on Monday July 02 2018, @03:04PM (#701394)

      Ex post facto laws means criminalizing behavior that wasn't illegal at the time it was done. It doesn't mean that laws can't be made retroactive.

      If Congress let copyright for Buck Rogers lapse, then a few days later extended copyright retroactive to when it lapsed, you couldn't be punished for writing Buck Rogers fanfic on the days that it was out of copyright.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Monday July 02 2018, @03:16PM (6 children)

        by Arik (4543) on Monday July 02 2018, @03:16PM (#701397) Journal
        Correct. That particular prohibition is narrow enough to allow this, though we may feel it violates the spirit of the thing.

        At a glance it might also violate the takings clause. Once a work has entered the public domain, however briefly, returning it to copyright amounts to taking the right to use it away from each and every citizen, without compensation.

        Unfortunately it's not possible to get a fair hearing on such issues when the copyright mafia are so deeply tied to government at all levels.
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        • (Score: 2) by Alfred on Monday July 02 2018, @03:31PM (5 children)

          by Alfred (4006) on Monday July 02 2018, @03:31PM (#701408) Journal
          +1 for "Copyright Mafia"
          • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday July 02 2018, @03:37PM (4 children)

            by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday July 02 2018, @03:37PM (#701411) Homepage
            AKA the Music And Film Industry of America" with an easily remembered acronym.
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            • (Score: 2) by Alfred on Monday July 02 2018, @07:46PM (3 children)

              by Alfred (4006) on Monday July 02 2018, @07:46PM (#701551) Journal
              Maybe you can help me with a question I have had for a long time. If movies are Hollywood, then music is where?

              I bash on Hollywood a lot but I don't have a geographic anchor to bash on the music industry. Sure there is Nashville but most of the time I want to bash on more than just country music.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02 2018, @08:00PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02 2018, @08:00PM (#701559)

                music is where?

                Music is everywhere Alfred, it's like the cosmic vibration of the universe. A better question is where music is not and the answer is the VMA's.

              • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday July 03 2018, @03:45AM

                by Arik (4543) on Tuesday July 03 2018, @03:45AM (#701717) Journal
                "If movies are Hollywood, then music is where?"

                The RIAA is headquartered in DC, although there isn't any music there, I think that might be what you meant to ask.

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              • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday July 03 2018, @07:29AM

                by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday July 03 2018, @07:29AM (#701781) Homepage
                LA big time with a few hundred studios. Then NY with a couple of hundred.

                Nashville, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta are also significant, but combined are less than either of the big 2.
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