links for 2010-03-03

Oftentimes, opponents of Public Knowledge suggest that our calls for a balanced copyright is really a call for everything to be free. First off, this is wrong. Balanced copyright is an attempt to find a way to promote creation without restricting innovation or creativity (or “balance” the rights of the creators of the past, creators of the future, and the public), not make everything free (for the 2 page handout version of PK’s take on balanced copyright, click here (PDF)). Second, and what really annoys me, is the implication that there is no real value to works once they are in the public domain. While this is kind of an ongoing pet peeve of mine, two articles related to the new Alice in Wonderland movie from Sunday’s New York Times really drove it home.