[FC-discuss] New free culture documentary in development

[Denver Gingerich]

On Jan 5, 2008 3:02 PM, Matthew J. Agnello <matt.agnello at gmail.com> wrote:
[...]
> I've set up a variety of outlets for users to track and contribute to the
> development of the project. Using Lessig's corruption wikinotes as an
> example, I've set up a series of pages on my wiki for keeping track of
> required reading, current events, people I should know about, etc. You can
> find the portal at http://www.hungryfilmmaker.com/wiki/Portal:Copycat. If
> you'd like to contribute, please go to the wiki, create an account, and poke
> around a bit.

I've added a page on international copyright treaties to the Topics
section.  Let me know if you have any questions about it.


Since the wiki happened to omit information on international copyright
treaties, but included a note on US copyright treaties, I'll talk a
bit about that.  I am in no way picking on you specifically, Matt; it
just so happens that I have time to expand on this now and your e-mail
was the most recent one that brought it to mind.

I find that it is often the case that discussions relating to
copyright law (at least on FC-discuss and other lists I'm on) center
around what US law says about a particular issue.  While these are
great for people that live in the US, the discussions are not very
useful for people that live in other countries.

Although one may not be able to get into as much legal depth (since
each country implements treaties differently), it may be much more
useful in these discussions to talk about international copyright
treaties such as the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the Berne Convention.
These treaties are signed by most countries on the planet [1] so are
quite relevant for most people.

One can include notes on optional parts of the treaties that specific
countries have implemented when discussing these treaties.  For
example, you may wish to note when talking about the length of
copyright terms that the Berne Convention states this is at least 50
years for signing countries while the US has chosen to implement a
longer term.

Talking about international copyright treaties is not only useful for
people in more countries, but it also promotes awareness of which laws
are specific to certain countries and which laws are internationally
recognized.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments about this.  I'm
always up for discussion.

Denver


1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_treaties