Simon Willison’s Weblog

The Eric Eldred act

18th January 2003

Larry Lessig has a new campaign: a “copyright tax” that kicks in 50 years in to a copyright term, demanding copyright owners to pay a nominal fee ($1—$50) to maintain control of their copyright. Unused works that are no longer profitable should then default to falling in to the public domain, while more commercial works can stay copyrighted. Larry’s idea was first announced in this New York Times Op-Ed and is also covered on Lessig’s blog. He has also published an FAQ.